Not nearly enough of the funds donated to the four biggest diabetes non-profits end up in the hands of researchers working on near-term cures for type 1 diabetes, according a new analysis by a research and advocacy group.
“During the past half century there have been strong advances in treatments for type 1 but little tangible progress toward a cure,” the Juvenile Diabetes Cure Alliance says in its annual State of the Cure report (PDF). “While some exciting avenues of research are being pursued, results from most of these pathways will require many decades to develop and are unlikely to be available for the generation of people who are currently living with type 1.”
The majority of diabetes research today focuses on incremental improvements to technology or what the JDCA calls “ideal solutions,” which are ambitious, long-term projects. According to the organization’s report, only about 2 percent of research dollars from the American Diabetes Association, JDRF, Joslin Diabetes Center and Diabetes Research Institute Foundation in 2012 were allocated to projects that support a “practical cure.” That’s the term the organization gives to innovations that would allow someone with type 1 diabetes to live a near normal life and could be widely available by 2025.
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JDCA counts four practical cure approaches currently being developed: islet transplantation; drugs that would stop autoimmune attack and enable cells to regenerate; devices that would reliably replace the function of the pancreas; and cell retraining therapies. Within those categories, it counts six projects currently in clinical trials that could deliver a practical cure within the next decade:
- Living Cell Technologies’ DIABECELL (Phase II)
- Tianhe Stem Cell Biotechnologies’ Stem Cell Educator Therapy (Phase II)
- Faustman Lab at Mass General’s BCG Vaccine (Phase II)
- ViaCyte’s stem cell therapy (Phase I)
- Sanford Research’s combination therapy (Phase I)
- Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc Monolayer Cellular Device (Phase I)
JDCA insists it’s not suggesting that foundations abandon research projects that target complications, glucose control and prevention. Rather, it calls for a better balance of funding, suggesting that 25 percent of donor contributions should support a practical cure research initiative. That’s the kind of research a majority of donors want their funds to go to as well, according to a survey JDCA conducted earlier this year.
“There have been encouraging developments in 2013,” said JDCA General Manager Phil Shaw in a statement, “but the nonprofits and researchers need to implement a mechanism for prioritizing projects that fully funds and resources the most promising near-term projects.”
[Image credit: Flickr user Alisha Vargas]
