A new treatment for type 1 diabetes could be on the horizon, according to a new study. Researchers have completed the first human clinical trial of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and alopecia drug baricitinib, sold under the name Olumiant for treating new-onset type 1 diabetes.
As Healthline reports, the drug offers a novel approach to treating type 1 diabetes that aims to try and preserve the body’s ability to produce insulin, rather than simply replacing it through injections. The results of the “Baricitinib in New-onset Type 1 Diabetes” (BANDIT) trial were published earlier this month in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Baricitininb belongs to a class of drugs known as Janus kinase inhibitors or JAK inhibitors. The drugs work on the body by modulating signaling to the immune system. For individuals with rheumatoid or autoimmune conditions, JAK inhibitors help prevent the immune system from becoming overactive and attacking the body itself.
Now, researchers are demonstrating that this same mechanism can be utilized for type 1 diabetes, which is caused by the destruction of the body’s natural insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. But there’s a catch: the drug must be used as soon after diagnosis to help preserve insulin function before those cells are totally destroyed.
“They [JAKs] target immune system pathways that cause type 1 diabetes and prevent the loss of the body’s natural ability to produce insulin rather than administering insulin by injection which has been the treatment for type 1 diabetes for 100 years,” Dr. Thomas Kay, PhD, director of St Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research, and leading the clinical trials, told Healthline.
Despite the findings, some serious questions still remain about the potential for baricitinib as a type 1 diabetes treatment. “It’s important to note that the observed effects have been documented for a limited duration of only 48 weeks,” said Hughes. “These initial results are certainly exciting, but ongoing research and extended observations will be key in understanding longer-term potential on the preservation of insulin secretion as well as the resulting impacts on other clinical outcomes associated with type 1 diabetes,” he said.
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