Biotechnology company SERAXIS Inc on Wednesday announced a research collaboration agreement to advance its existing diabetes programme with Wake Forest Baptist Health.

Wake Forest Baptist Health is a fully integrated academic medical centre with the largest kidney and pancreas transplant centre in North Carolina.

Additionally, Dr Giuseppe Orlando, MD PhD, transplant surgeon at Wake Forest Baptist Health Health and SERAXIS' scientific advisor, is a trailblazer in researching human engineered replacement tissues, the company said.

SERAXIS' leading technology includes GMP-grade, pure pancreatic islets that contain 60-90% of insulin-secreting beta cells. SERAXIS islets mimic true native islets, secreting insulin and glucagon in response to glucose and rescuing animal models of diabetes.

According to the company, SERAXIS islets are manufactured using large-scale culture methods and consistently achieve high purity without the need for cell selection. SERAXIS has a proprietary cell line and technology to manufacture transplant-ready pancreatic islets for treatment of insulin-dependent diabetes.