A two-year Australian trial has found that a daily pill commonly prescribed for rheumatoid arthritis and alopecia could also slow the progression of type 1 diabetes.
The Independent reports that the trial found that the drug, baricitinib – which works by blocking signals that lead to over-activity of the immune system – helps to protect the remaining insulin-producing cells in people who are newly diagnosed.
Dr Michalea Waibel from St Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research in Australia, said: “For the first time, we have an oral disease-modifying treatment that can intervene early enough to allow people with type 1 diabetes 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.”
The first trial in 2023 enrolled 91 people who had recently been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes within the past 100 days. Participants were either given a baricitinib pill (4mg) or a placebo, once daily for 48 weeks.
In 2023, the ground-breaking Australian BANDIT trial reported that a daily pill of baricitinib could safely preserve the body’s own insulin production and slow the progression of type 1 diabetes in people recently diagnosed with the condition.
The follow-up of the blinded BANDIT trial, presented last week at the Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD), Vienna, revealed that once baricitinib treatment was stopped, participants’ diabetes progressed – they produced less insulin and had less stable blood sugar levels, that were not significantly different to those on placebo.
The researchers found at 48 weeks the C-peptide level was 0.65 in the baricitinib group and 0.43 in the placebo group. After treatment was stopped, C-peptide levels fell to 0.49 nmol per litre in the baricitinib group and 0.36 in the placebo group at 72 weeks, and then to 0.37 and 0.26, respectively, at 96 weeks, demonstrating reduced insulin production.
The researchers now hope the drug could be available for diabetes in the next five years.
“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,” Waibel added.
“We are hopeful that larger phase 3 trials with baricitinib will start soon, in people with recently diagnosed type 1 diabetes as well as in earlier stages to delay insulin dependence.”
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Worldwide type 1 diabetes cases expected to double by 2040 – Australian study
BRAVE trials show that baricitinib can slap down alopecia
Baricitinib plus remdesivir promising in severe COVID-19 — NIH clinical trial
Common JAK inhibitors equally effective for RA – Japanese study