The clinical trials were directed by Dr. Kevan Herold, endocrinologist at the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, associate professor of clinical medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons, and lead author and principal investigator on the study. The new immunosuppressive drug was developed by Dr. Jeffrey Bluestone, director of the UCSF Diabetes Center, senior author on the NEJM paper and co-principal investigator on the study.
The research work was funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), and the National Center for Research Resources.
"The remarkable results reported in this study provide enormous hope for finding a cure for people with Type 1 diabetes, says Robert Goldstein, chief scientific officer of the JDRF. For the first time it has been shown that progression of the destructive autoimmune response can be stopped with few side effects and islet function preserved.
Furthermore this provides the basis for expanded clinical studies that may extend the range of individuals who can be helped, including use before onset of disease as well as in individuals whose disease is more chronic in nature."
Preserving insulin production is a very important finding of this trial since patients taking the new drug would not be entirely dependent on exogenous insulin for metabolic control, says Columbias Kevan Herold. People with diabetes who make some insulin have a much easier time in controlling their disease than those who do not.
Although diabetes has been arrested in its early stages before, these previous successes have come at a c
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Contact: Annie Bayne
as862@columbia.edu
212-305-3900
Columbia University Medical Center
29-May-2002