Diabetes in children, it’s a revolution thanks to a monoclonal. For diabetologists “a new era is opening, both from a scientific point of view and from that of public health”. For the first time, explains Lorenzo Piemonti, director of the Diabetes Research Institute of the Irccs San Raffaele Hospital, «we have the possibility of intervening at an early stage, before the clinical disease appears. This is one of the most important innovations in the field».
At “Panorama diabetes” he discussed the possibilities of preventing the disease with teplizumab
Diabetes, SID: in the future also in Italy a new drug to delay type 1 diabetes
For the first time in the history of preventive therapies pic.twitter.com/smJ8EHbrHA
— Ilmiodiabete (@Ilmiodiabete) May 22, 2023
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Diabetes, because it’s revolution
The first medicine capable of delaying the onset of type 1 diabetes in children by 3 to 5 years is under review by medicines regulators in the European Union. The approval a few months ago in the United States of a monoclonal antibody – to whose development Italian research contributed. it pioneered its use in Europe as well. How to identify patients who may benefit from it was one of the topics addressed at the “Panorama Diabetes” conference in Corso Riccione. In Italy there are about 180,000 people with type 1 diabetes, a disease that takes 10 to 15 years from life expectancy and forces them to undergo daily insulin therapy. Immunotherapy with teplizumab has been approved by the US FDA to slow down the destruction of β-cells and paves the way for the need for a screening aimed at identifying the subjects to whom this therapy should be applied to delay the disease: i.e. the presence of at least two cars antibodies circulating in the blood and the presence of a condition of prediabetes, i.e. high blood sugar levels.
Predicting to prevent, this is the theme of the forum “Panorama diabetes” promoted by Sid
Diabetes, the bill
Meanwhile, discussions have begun in the Chamber of Deputies on a bill “which introduces screening for pediatric diabetes for the first time in the world: a record that would put Italy at the forefront,” underlines Piemonti. «After about 30 years of studies and trials – concludes the elected president of the Italian Society of Diabetes, Raffaella Buzzetti – we have arrived at a monoclonal capable of delaying the onset of the disease. This approval offers new excitement, after years of anticipation, in research to prevent or even cure type 1 diabetes.”