Which drugs are best at protecting insulin-making beta cells?

Promising treatments are emerging from clinical trials which can protect the remaining insulin-making beta cells in people newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (T1D). We don’t yet know which of these exciting treatments might be the most effective, either alone or given together, as well as how people who live with T1D feel about these new therapies.

Breakthrough T1D is funding Professor Parth Narendran at the University of Birmingham to determine which of the treatments that can protect beta cells are most effective and acceptable to people with newly diagnosed T1D.

Reviewing existing evidence

Parth will carry out an in-depth review of the existing evidence from trials about drugs that can protect beta cells. He will use sophisticated statistical methodology and the latest data to compare different treatments. This thorough analysis will create a detailed picture of how safe and effective each treatment is and help predict which may be the best drugs to use together to make them work even better.

Interviewing people with lived experience

As well as the review, Parth will discuss with adolescents and adults living with T1D and parents/guardians of children with T1D their opinions on the side effects and benefits of treatments to protect beta cells. He will also interview diabetes clinicians to explore their opinions on what therapies they think might work well in patients.

Influencing change for people with T1D

This project has the power to inform the design of future treatment studies in people newly diagnosed with T1D. He will publish recommendations for the best treatments in scientific journals as well as sharing through meetings with other researchers and people living with T1D. This transparent and systematic review will also help to inform policymakers of these treatments, supporting the drug licensing process and helping to make them available for people newly diagnosed with T1D sooner.

How will this research help people with T1D?

This could lead to better treatments, or combinations of treatments, to protect beta cells that can delay the progression of T1D even further. This will enable people with T1D to keep making some insulin for longer, making managing their T1D easier and helping to prevent diabetes complications. Ultimately, this work could even help researchers prevent the need for insulin in people in the early stages of T1D.

Involving people living with T1D

This project has three co-applicants who live with T1D as well as a group of ten people with lived experience as a supporting group. The group has helped develop the application for Breakthrough T1D funding, ensuring the project is designed around the needs of people living with T1D. They will help determine important outcomes from the study, inform the interview questions and help share the results with the wider public.

Is Breakthrough T1D funding any similar research?

We’re funding researchers around the world who are investigating ways to protect beta cells and slow the progression of T1D. This includes Professor Colin Dayan who is setting up a new clinical trials platform that tests multiple different combinations of drugs simultaneously. Inspired by trials of cancer therapies, the platform adopts an ‘adaptive trial design’ where the trials continue evolving with promising drug combinations continued and expanded, while unsuccessful combinations are ended.