Our resource hub is home to a wealth of articles, stories and videos about managing and living with type 1 diabetes.
Place your order for our free information packs that support adults and children who have been recently diagnosed.
Our researchers are working on different ways to develop a cure for type 1 diabetes - from growing insulin-producing beta cells in labs to hacking the immune system.
Learn about the technologies that can deliver insulin automatically when needed. And discover the next generation of insulins that are currently being developed.
We have a wide range of fun and festive designs to choose from. Fund life changing research while spreading joy this Christmas!
This Christmas, your gift can bring us closer to a cure for type 1 diabetes – and every pound you give to our Christmas Appeal will be doubled.
The announcement is the biggest treatment breakthrough for type 1 diabetes since the discovery of insulin.
This event is designed for anyone living with type 1 diabetes who would like to learn more about managing their wellbeing across a variety of contexts.
We provide a wealth of information and free resources to help you support and empower your patients or students.
Take our free course for schools to learn more about supporting pupils with type 1 diabetes in educational settings.
Home > News & events > News > Clinical trial finds teplizumab slows type 1 diabetes in people newly diagnosed
Approved by the US FDA in November 2022, teplizumab is an immunotherapy drug proven to delay the onset of type 1 by up to three years in people at high-risk of developing type 1. The PROTECT study results, published today in the New England Journal of Medicine, show that the drug also has the potential to slow the progression of type 1 in people newly diagnosed with the condition.
Teplizumab is the first ever disease-modifying drug licensed for type 1 diabetes. It’s an immunotherapy drug, which means it directly interferes with the immune attack that causes type 1. Having proved effective at slowing the onset of type 1, researchers are now investigating whether teplizumab can also help people who already have type 1.
The PROTECT study took place at four sites in Engand and Wales. 300 young people aged between eight and 17 years, who had all been diagnosed with type 1 in the previous six weeks, took part in the study.
217 participants were given one course of daily teplizumab injections for 12 days, then another course of injections after six months. Meanwhile the remaining people who took part received injections in the same procedure, but theirs contained a placebo. The researchers took the children’s C-peptide levels, which is a measure of the amount of insulin a person can make, at week 78 of the trial.
The children and adolescents who were treated with teplizumab had significantly higher C-peptide levels than those in the placebo group. Insulin is made by cells in the pancreas called beta cells, so the results suggest that teplizumab can preserve beta cell function in people newly diagnosed with type 1. The researchers found that the C-peptide levels of the people who received teplizumab declined more slowly than those who had the placebo.
The more beta cells a person has, the more insulin they can make. Being able to make some insulin yourself can make type 1 easier to manage and keep glucose levels more stable. This is sometimes known as the honeymoon phase or period. We know that puberty and hormones can make type 1 even more difficult for young people to manage, so teplizumab could help get them through those challenging times.
We played a crucial role in funding the early research in the development of teplizumab including early tests in mice, trial recruitment networks, and the clinical trials themselves. For nearly three decades, we have been funding Professor Kevin Herold, who is a co-author of this paper on the PROTECT study and has led several other clinical trials of teplizumab.
Discussions are ongoing between Sanofi, the drug company that makes teplizumab, and the MHRA, the government agency that approves new drugs. The MHRA has already given teplizumab an ‘innovation passport’, which is a way to speed up the approval process.
To learn more about teplizumab, please see our FAQs.
One day, we will create a world without type 1 diabetes. Until that day, your support is vital for our international research to cure, treat and prevent type 1.
Our answers to frequently asked questions about teplizumab, the first disease-modifying drug for type 1 diabetes.
Our work to prevent type 1 diabetes has great potential to lift the burden of this condition from future generations.
We’ve written a letter to Gillian Keegan MP, Secretary of State for Education, asking her to make exemptions to the Government’s policy on banning mobile phones in schools. We thought you might like to read it.
As part of its assessment of hybrid closed loop (HCL), the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has today published an additional consultation on its roll out.
Insulet, the company who make Omnipod® products, has announced that their Omnipod® 5 hybrid closed loop (HCL) technology is now available in the UK.
Immunotherapy, beta cell replacement, smart insulins – we’re driving research in the most promising areas to find cures and better treatments for type 1 diabetes.
