When you’ve been recognized with kind 1 diabetes (T1D) inside the final six months — and also you’re between the ages of 12 and 29 years previous — you need to find out about Diamyd Medical’s medical trial. Diamyd’s groundbreaking remedy may assist shield your physique’s pure insulin manufacturing.
Right here’s what it’s essential to know.
What’s Diamyd?
Diamyd was based in Sweden within the Nineties by Anders Essen-Moller after his daughter was recognized with T1D at 10 years previous. Essen-Moller, an govt for a medical enterprise, instantly started touring the world to analyze ongoing T1D treatment analysis.
He homed in on the enzyme glutamic acid decarboxylase, or GAD, a spotlight in analysis on the College of California, Los Angeles on the time. GAD is a naturally occurring enzyme produced by the cells in your pancreas that additionally produce insulin. When your immune system assaults these cells, it assaults GAD, too. Essen-Moller licensed GAD growth from UCLA and nonetheless has unique rights to growing GAD remedies in the present day.
Essen-Moller based Diamyd, with the “Dia” coming from the phrase diabetes, “My” from his daughter’s title, and “D” from the final letter in GAD.
What’s GAD-65?
Over the thirty years, Diamyd has been growing the remedy GAD-65. They’ve already accomplished Section 1 and Section 2 of the medical trial course of.
GAD-65 was developed to guard the cells within the pancreas from autoimmune assaults. By shielding the cells that produce GAD, it additionally preserves insulin manufacturing.
In a nutshell, GAD-65 merely tells your immune system to cease attacking and destroying the cells in your pancreas that produce insulin. GAD-65 mainly says, “Hey! This enzyme shouldn’t be international. It’s not unhealthy. It belongs within the physique. Cease attacking it!”
GAD-65 is taken into account an “immune-modulator” as a result of it does not suppress your immune system. As a substitute, reprograms your immune system. It’s educating your immune system to behave in a different way — which is nice when the immune system is doing ridiculous issues like attacking and destroying the cells that produce insulin.
Diamyd’s section 2 medical trial helped decide that the remedy has security profile and that it had encouraging results on insulin preservation. Now, onto Section 3: a bigger and longer trial figuring out GAD-65’s efficacy in comparison with conventional remedies, like day by day insulin injections.
When you’ve been not too long ago recognized with T1D, your physique nonetheless produces an affordable quantity of insulin-producing cells, so there’s nonetheless time to intervene and shield these remaining cells. The longer you’ve lived with T1D, the less insulin-producing cells your physique nonetheless makes — if any.
Diamyd states that GAD-65 is the primary “precision drugs” remedy in growth for kind 1 diabetes.
GAD-65 is Precision Drugs
Precision drugs is a comparatively new time period in drugs. It describes any remedy focusing on a selected subgroup of individuals past their prognosis. For instance, in most cancers remedies, precision drugs identifies particular remedy plans for particular sorts of most cancers primarily based on the affected person’s genetic make-up. Precision drugs is outlined as growing remedies primarily based on the precise particulars of a affected person’s genetics and deeper particulars of the illness.
In Diamyd’s earlier trials, GAD-65 was solely efficient in about 40 % of individuals. That is when Diamyd’s researchers found that the remedy’s impact was linked to the presence of a really particular gene — a gene that’s present in about 40 to 50 % of individuals with T1D!
The HLA DR3-DQ2 haplotype gene performs a important function in Diamyd’s remedy. Actually, step one of their medical trial is getting examined for this gene.
Find out how to Take part in Diamyd’s Trial
Diamyd wants common individuals to volunteer for GAD-65’s stage 3 medical trial. When you qualify, collaborating is comparatively simple:
You would possibly qualify if:
- You have been recognized with kind 1 diabetes inside the final six months.
- You’re between the ages of 12 and 29 years previous.
- You reside in/close to one of many United States or European clinic websites: research places. (Diamyd will cowl your journey bills.)
How the research works:
- First, you’re screened for fundamental qualifying standards.
- You then’ll be screened for the HLA DR3-DQ2 haplotype gene.
- Subsequent, you’ll obtain three injections of GAD-65 or the placebo over 2 months.
- You’ll go about your on a regular basis life whereas receiving these injections.
- 67 % of individuals will obtain GAD-65, with solely 33 % receiving a placebo.
- GAD-65 is run with injections in a lymph node in your groin over the course of a number of months. The injections really feel just like getting your blood drawn at a lab. When you can deal with an intravenous blood draw, you possibly can deal with injections of GAD-65.
- The follow-up interval after the injections lasts for 22 months.
- All through that 22-month follow-up interval, you’ll have recurring bloodwork achieved to judge insulin manufacturing, blood glucose ranges, and many others.
Diamyd is only one of many firms growing life-changing therapies for individuals with T1D. It’s thrilling!
