Our 2022 Year in Review

January: Fred MacAuley on The Chase Celebrity Special

We got the year off to a strong start when Scottish Comedian and long-term supporter of JDRF, Fred MacAulay, took part on The Chase Celebrity Special and beat The Chaser Shaun Wallace to bring home his share of the £116,000 prize pot. Fred’s efforts saw him raise £29,000 for JDRF. Great work Fred!

February: HCL approved in Scotland, and Ed Gamble on The Weakest Link

February saw a huge step forward in hybrid closed loop (HCL) technology. JDRF contributed to a report for NHS Scotland, which advocated for wider access to HCL for all people living with type 1 in Scotland. The report was crucial in enabling thousands more people with type 1 diabetes to access closed loop technology.

Comedian Ed Gamble also appeared on The Weakest Link in February. Ed raised a fantastic £9,650 for JDRF!

March: Affordable insulin in the US, and Flash and CGM for all on the NHS

In March, a landmark deal was agreed between JDRF International and partners to give access to affordable insulin to everyone in the US, regardless of insurance status by 2024.

Closer to home, new guidance from NICE was published in March recommending that people with type 1 diabetes be offered a choice of either flash monitoring of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) on the NHS. The guidance incorporated JDRF’s recommendations to NICE, including the requirement for health care professionals to ‘offer’ rather than ‘consider’ CGM for people with type 1 diabetes who meet the criteria.

April: SMF donation

In April, The Steve Morgan Foundation made a £50m donation to transform the lives of people living with type 1 diabetes and lead the global race to a cure. The donation to Diabetes UK and JDRF UK is the largest-ever single gift in the UK for diabetes research. Over five years, the £50m will fund the SMF Type 1 Diabetes Grand Challenge, which will cultivate collaboration between world-leading researchers, scientific organisations, and diabetes charities to drive innovation and accelerate research breakthroughs worldwide.

May: Theresa May and Nina Wadia talk type 1 diabetes at JDRF fundraise

We hosted ‘In Conversation with Theresa May, hosted by Nina Wadia’ as a fundraising event in May. Mrs May, JDRF’s Global Research Ambassador, touched on all things type 1, including her use of technology to help her manage her condition, and how she navigated hypos during long meetings.

Also in May, we saw Mitchell Carling, aged just 14 from Dundee, generously raffle off his Europa League Final tickets for charity.  Mitchell raised over £30,000 and chose to donate over £20,000 to JDRF because of the support we provided to his little sister when she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Thank you, Mitchell!

June: T1DE Parliamentary inquiry

In June, a Parliamentary inquiry into type 1 diabetes and eating disorders (also known as T1DE) was launched, with the aim of setting recommendations for the NHS and healthcare system so they are better equipped to handle the complexities of living with an eating disorder and type 1 diabetes. Sir George Howarth MP and Rt. Hon Theresa May MP, with the support of JDRF, launched the inquiry which heard from experts in academia, the NHS, the charity sector and those with a lived experience of T1DE on what could be done to help those with the condition.

July: DigiBete partnership and advancements in stem cell therapy

July saw us form our exciting partnership with DigiBete, a video platform and app funded by NHS England to help young people and families manage type 1 diabetes. The partnership has allowed us to pool our resources and work together to create information about a range of topics, from daily management to nutrition and wellbeing.

In the world of research, a promising potential treatment for type 1 diabetes was approved for use again in a clinical trial in the US. VX-880 allowed lab-grown insulin-producing beta cells to be transplanted into people with type 1 diabetes.

September: T1D Index and Youth Ambassador programme launch

As autumn approached, we launched a first-of-its-kind data simulation tool that measures the global impact of type 1 diabetes in every country around the world – the Type 1 Diabetes Index. The T1D Index and accompanying research, published by the Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology, uses data to paint a picture of type 1 diabetes in every country. It will be used to identify key interventions that could change the current trajectory for type 1 diabetes and its impact on people around the world.

We also launched our refreshed Youth Ambassador Programme in September, designed to empower young people living with type 1 diabetes to share their experiences with others and teach valuable skills that they’ve picked up along the way.

October: Connect Immune Research welcomes two new partners

Connect Immune Research, an initiative that unites autoimmune research organisations including JDRF, welcomed patient support charity British Thyroid Foundation as well as The Royal Free Charity, which supports the three hospitals in the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust. Together with the MS Society, Versus Arthritis and the British Society for Immunology, Connect Immune Research aims to facilitate collaborative projects in the field of immunology.

November: Teplizumab approved by the FDA, and everything Diabetes Awareness Month

With November also being Diabetes Awareness Month, there was no shortage of things to celebrate for us and the type 1 community. We hosted our London Gala Ball earlier in the month which raised an incredible £125,000 for type 1 diabetes over the course of the evening.

World Diabetes Day followed on the 14th, with cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason sporting his #WeAreOne badge on BBC Breakfast and actor James Norton using his reach to talk about type 1 technology with his social media followers.

The ELSA Study launch was also big news on World Diabetes Day. The first-of-its-kind screening programme for type 1 diabetes will test 20,000 UK children aged 3-13, to identify those who are most likely to develop type 1 diabetes.

Our biggest news of the month was the approval of teplizumab by the FDA in the US. Teplizumab is the first ever disease-modifying drug for type 1 diabetes, which can delay the onset of symptoms by up to three years. It was JDRF funding that allowed the initial exploratory research of teplizumab, which we’re very proud of.

Towards the end of November we saw the release of guidance to help football coaches support players with type 1, released by the Football Association of Wales, as well as a document outlining The Six Principles of Good Peer Support for People Living with Type 1 Diabetes released by NHS England, both created with contributions from JDRF.

December: Clinical Research Training Fellowship

At the beginning of December, we teamed up with the UK Medical Research Council for the first time to help fund new research into treatments.

As the year draws to a close, we want to draw attention to all of the people who have helped to raise money for JDRF over the last 12 months, as well as all our amazing volunteers. None of the achievements listed here would have been possible without your generosity and hard work. With your continued support, we hope to make 2023 another fantastic year for the advancement of type 1 diabetes research.