Disease-modifying therapies
How we slow, halt, and reverse type 1 diabetes
Our approach
Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is an autoimmune disease where the body’s immune system destroys the beta cells in the pancreas—making them dependent on external insulin administration for life. Breakthrough T1D is focused on developing drugs, or disease-modifying therapies, that change the course of T1D from everyone affected by it—and those yet to be. That means slowing or halting the progression of the disease, preventing it from ever occurring, and reversing it entirely.
Immune therapies stop the immune system from attacking healthy beta cells.
Beta cell therapies that preserve or restore beta cells’ ability to produce insulin.
Research progress in disease-modifying therapies
2023
FDA-approved immune therapy shows benefit in newly diagnosed
A Breakthrough T1D-funded clinical trial demonstrated that baricitinib—a JAK inhibitor, which is critical to signaling pathways within both immune cells and beta cells in type 1 diabetes (T1D)—preserved beta cell function in the disease.
Learn More About This Clinical TrialResults are out: Tzield benefits newly diagnosed individuals
Results from a new clinical trial suggest that Tzield has the potential to slow the progression of T1D for those diagnosed with new-onset T1D.
Learn More About This StudyC-Peptide as an endpoint in clinical trials: its time has come
A recent study led by Breakthrough T1D researchers demonstrates that C-peptide, a biomarker of insulin production, is a validated surrogate endpoint for clinical trials for disease-modifying therapies for T1D.
Read More About This Clinical Trial2022
FDA approves Tzield—the first disease-modifying therapy for T1D
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves teplizumab, under the brand name Tzield, for use in delaying the onset of T1D in at-risk individuals.
Read More About This Watershed Moment2021
Teplizumab is under review at the FDA
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulatory review is now underway for teplizumab—a therapy that blocks the blood marker CD3, which activates immune cells—to delay T1D in at-risk individuals.
Read More About This Disease-Modifying TherapyBreakthrough T1D partners with Lupus Research Alliance, National Multiple Sclerosis Society
Organizations team up to advance the understanding of autoimmunity and to obtain more specific insights into commonalities and differences in immune pathways that govern these disease processes.
Read More About This Alliance2020
JAK inhibitors begin human clinical trials
The BANDIT clinical trial began in Australia, to find out if a JAK inhibitor, called baricitinib, will preserve beta cell function in children and young adults with recently diagnosed T1D.
Read More About This Clinical TrialAmazing progress
In the past decade, Breakthrough T1D has invested more than $273 million in disease-modifying therapies, and there are several in human clinical trials. One therapy, Tzield, has even been approved by the FDA for use in delaying onset of stage 3 T1D. Learn more about Tzield’s FDA approval.
Learn more about our research
Breakthrough T1D is working to make life better for everyone affected by the condition.
Our research strategy has two pillars: curing T1D and improving everyday life for individuals with T1D.
The latest news on T1D research and updates on the T1D community.
Today, we are leading the way to more effective solutions. Tomorrow, we will make this condition a thing of the past.
