The present invention provides therapeutic agents and compositions comprising elastin-like peptides (ELPs) and therapeutic proteins. In some embodiments, the therapeutic protein is a GLP-1 receptor agonist, insulin, or Factor VII/VIIa, including functional analogs. The present invention further provides encoding polynucleotides, as well as methods of making and using the therapeutic agents. The therapeutic agents have improvements in relation to their use as therapeutics, including, inter alia, one or more of half-life, clearance and/or persistence in the body, solubility, and bioavailability.

The present invention relates to exendin-4 derivatives and their medical use, for example in the treatment of disorders of the metabolic syndrome, including diabetes and obesity, as well as reduction of excess food intake.

This invention relates to novel compositions comprising analogs of naturally occurring polypeptides, wherein the analog comprises an α-amino acid and at least one β-amino acid. Administration of the compositions may be used for effecting treatment or prevention of a plurality of disease states caused by dysfunctional biochemical or biological pathways. The compositions and methods of this invention are particularly useful to identify novel therapeutic modulators of in-vivo receptor activity with extended half-lives and relevant bioactivity as compared to the naturally translated polypeptides upon which the analogs are derived.

Described herein are methods of management of functional dyspepsia in a patient by administering an amylin analogue or a CCK composition to the patient. Methods of diagnosing such patient include a standard gastric-emptying assessment using a standardized solid meal along with measurements of blood glucose levels. Another method of diagnosing such patient includes a gastric-emptying scintigraphy assessment with labeled carbohydrates or other assessments to diagnose rapid carbohydrate gastric emptying.

This invention relates to novel compositions comprising analogs of naturally occurring polypeptides, wherein the analog comprises an α-amino acid and at least one β-amino acid. Administration of the compositions may be used for effecting treatment or prevention of a plurality of disease states caused by dysfunctional biochemical or biological pathways. The compositions and methods of this invention are particularly useful to identify novel therapeutic modulators of in-vivo receptor activity with extended half-lives and relevant bioactivity as compared to the naturally translated polypeptides upon which the analogs are derived.

Disclosed herein are immunoglobulin fusion proteins comprising a first immunoglobulin region attached to a therapeutic peptide at the amino terminus of the immunoglobulin region. The immunoglobulin fusion proteins may further comprise a second immunoglobulin region. The immunoglobulin fusion protein may further comprise one or more connecting peptides, linkers, proteolytic cleavage sites, internal linkers, or a combination thereof. The immunoglobulin fusion proteins may further comprise one or more additional therapeutic peptides. Also disclosed herein are compositions comprising the immunoglobulin fusion proteins and methods for using the immunoglobulin fusion proteins for the treatment or prevention of a disease or condition in a subject.

Disclosed herein are insulin agonist peptides conjugated to incretins wherein the incretin-insulin conjugate has agonist activity at the insulin receptor and the corresponding incretin receptor, and stimulates weight loss in an individual administered the compound.

Disclosed herein are insulin agonist peptides conjugated to incretins wherein the incretin-insulin conjugate has agonist activity at the insulin receptor and the corresponding incretin receptor, and stimulates weight loss in an individual administered the compound.

The present invention relates to compounds having activity at both the human glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptors. The present invention also relates to compounds having an extended duration of action at each of these receptors. Furthermore, the present invention relates to compounds that may be administered orally. Compounds may be useful in the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus (“T2DM”). Also, the compounds may be useful in the treatment of obesity.

The invention relates to constructs, cells and methods for modulating the immune system that optimize presentation of CD4 and CD8 epitopes to antigen-presenting cells and transfection into cells. Epitopes to either self antigens or non-self antigens can be used to optimize either a tolerance or immunogenicity to those epitopes, respectively. Certain new constructs encode one or more dominant, disease-driving epitopes (CD4) targeted for MHCII processing within the endosomes of a cell and one or more epitopes (CD8) targeted for MHCI processing within the cytosol of the cell, to produce the maximum antigen/epitope presentation in the immune system, and further include an MHCII activator sequence. Alternatively, the new constructs encode CD4 and CD8 epitopes operably linked to a secretion signal.