JDRF, the leading research and advocacy organisation fundingT1D research, announced its alignment with an innovative scientific approach of Janssen Research & Development, LLC (Janssen) and the company’s Disease Interception Accelerator (DIA) group, which will focus on transforming type 1 diabetes (T1D) through its disease interception strategy. JDRF will work with Janssen scientists to further identify the root cause(s) of T1D with the aim of intercepting and eliminating the disease before clinical symptoms emerge, effectively seeking to create a new paradigm in health care for T1D.

“Through recent research discoveries, we now have the ability to better define the early stages of type 1 diabetes before the onset of clinical symptoms and the need for insulin injections. This allows us to identify individuals in whom the type 1 diabetes disease process has started and to develop therapies to intercept it in order to maintain insulin independence,” says Richard Insel, MD, JDRF’s chief scientific officer. “JDRF has long believed in preventive interventions and we are eager to support the Janssen DIA group in advancing this exciting science initiative in combatting type 1 diabetes.”

Diagnosing a person with T1D during the early asymptomatic stages of the disease has a host of research, development, and regulatory implications, and impacts awareness of the disease as T1D often begins long before the onset of clinical symptoms with gradual loss of insulin-producing cells of the pancreas. A successful disease interception approach may provide a window of opportunity to delay or stop progression and delay or prevent insulin dependence, thereby making a significant impact in the lives of individuals and the type 1 diabetes community.

The incidence of T1D has been increasing globally over the past four decades, growing by three to four percent annually. In addition, it has been increasingly occurring in individuals that previously have been considered to have a lower genetic risk of susceptibility for T1D, suggesting a lower threshold for developing the disease and important environmental contributions to developing the disease. Today, heath care costs of type 1 diabetes total approximately $15 billion each year in the United States. The resulting increase in the prevalence of T1D will clearly have substantial implications on the health care system, both in terms of increased resources and cost. These issues are some of the drivers to address T1D at its earliest stages.