Researchers have hailed an “exciting step forward” in the treatment of type 1 diabetes after finding an arthritis pill can delay the condition’s onset. The condition occurs when the immune system mistakenly destroys insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. The drug, baricitinib, halts this attack.
An Australian study saw 91 newly-diagnosed patients aged between 10 and 30 given either the medication or a placebo. Treatment resulted in decreased blood sugar fluctuation and reduced need for insulin injections in those taking the pill.
When patients stopped taking the drugs after 48 weeks, their insulin production began to decline and blood sugar control worsened.
Study author Dr Michalea Waibel, from St Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research in Australia, said: “This is a really exciting step forward.
“For the first time, we have an oral disease-modifying treatment that can intervene early enough to allow people with T1D to be significantly less dependent on insulin treatment and provide time free from the demands of the disease’s daily management, and which could also lower rates of long-term complications.
“If we can identify people at high risk of developing type 1 diabetes with genetic tests and blood markers, they could be offered treatment even earlier to prevent the disease taking hold in the first place.”
Around 270,000 people were living with type 1 diabetes in England, according to the NHS.
The researchers now hope larger trials will be launched to gather the evidence needed for the pill to be rolled out as a treatment to delay disease onset.
Dr Waibel added: “Among the promising agents shown to preserve beta cell function in T1D, baricitinib stands out because it can be taken orally, is well tolerated, including by young children, and is clearly efficacious.”
The findings were presented at this year’s Annual Meeting of The European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Vienna.