World Diabetes Day: Giving life back to people with diabetes

Medical research strives to find better treatments and ultimately cures because the personal and economic costs of disease are unacceptable to society. As we celebrate World Diabetes Day, I am proud to share how your support is helping give life back to people with diabetes.

People with type 1 diabetes manage well but there is no doubt they and their families would prefer not to have the condition. Despite treatment with insulin, it results in physical and mental burden, sometimes even social exclusion and very significant healthcare costs to individuals, families and the economy. Our goal is to give years of life and quality of life back to people with diabetes to correct this disadvantage. People with type 1 diabetes should have a normal life, not a life sentence, in dealing with its demands.

The goal we are working towards is holistic treatment that aims to protect and restore the body’s amazing natural processes for insulin production and blood glucose management, alongside insulin therapy when needed. We are calling this future approach “Nature First”.

• The science shows that baricitinib and some other disease-modifying therapies protect pancreatic beta cells in those newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes from attack by the immune system. Building on SVI research, Eli Lilly has announced the launch of the BARICADE Phase 3 trials – giving people living with diabetes across 20 countries the opportunity to access this promising new therapy. Coupled with advances in screening, this work will provide new and improved treatment options for people with type 1 diabetes.
• For those with established type 1 diabetes, stem cell-derived beta cell replacement has moved from concept to recipients of the cells now living insulin-free in clinical trials overseas. This treatment builds on decades of experience in islet transplantation.

There’s more work to be done – ensuring long-term safety, durability, and access – but the shift is real. The future of type 1 diabetes treatment is coming, and it’s coming soon.

What you are helping us do is to speed up the process of development and adoption of this model – for the benefit of current people with type 1 diabetes and the many thousands of predominantly young people who will soon develop the condition.

With warm thanks,

Professor Tom Kay

Director