Major study reveals arthritis drug can suppress type 1 diabetes

Following clinical trials in Australia, researchers have said that baricitinib, a rheumatoid arthritis drug, can suppress the progress of type 1 diabetes in newly diagnosed patients by preserving the body’s own insulin production.

As a result, the anti-inflammatory drug, also known by its brand name Olumiant, reduces the amount of insulin patients need to inject to control their blood sugar.

The team said their findings mark a “huge step-change” in how the condition is managed and treated, and could improve “the ability to control type 1 diabetes”.

Professor Helen Thomas, study author and head of immunology at St Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, said “We are very optimistic that this treatment will become clinically available.”

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks and kills the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin.  Sufferers therefore have to inject insulin to control their blood sugar levels.  Currently around 430,000 people in the UK have the condition.

Commenting on the research, Dr Faye Riley, Diabetes UK’s research communications manager, said “It’s incredibly exciting to see more positive results from clinical trials of immunotherapies to stop type 1 diabetes in its tracks.

“For more than 100 years, people living with type 1 diabetes have relied solely on insulin, but these findings show by tackling the root of type 1 diabetes – an immune system attack – an existing drug can help to shield the pancreas, in people recently diagnosed with type 1, so they can continue making more insulin for longer.”

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Posted by Karen Motley, Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (jacquelinevance@chadlaw.co.uk), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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