Possible Cures for Type-1 in the News (May)

This blog posting contains two different new items, with a short note on each:

The One That Got Away

The first article covers some work in Multiple Sclerosis (another autoimmune disease):
https://www.painnewsnetwork.org/stories/2019/1/16/experimental-stem-cell-therapy-reverses-ms-in-some-patients
The article reports on a promising phase-II study on an incurable disease.

The reason I'm discussing it here, is because this researcher was involved in very similar clinical trials on people with type-1 diabetes, many years ago.  Those trials were the most successful ever done.  People did not use injected insulin for years.  You can read my previous blogging here:
https://cureresearch4type1diabetes.blogspot.com/2010/11/snarski-confirms-burts-phase-i-results.html
or more generally here:
https://cureresearch4type1diabetes.blogspot.com/search/label/Burt

But years ago, this researcher switched from Type-1 Diabetes to Multiple Sclerosis.  Why?  Because of safety trade offs.  One researcher told me that the T1D version of this treatment would likely have an expected death rate of 1%.  In actual studies (on people!) the death rate was about 1 in 65.  For a disease like Type-1, that is not acceptable.  But for a disease like Multiple Sclerosis (which can lead to death after 10-30 years, and which often has a much bigger quality-of-life impact), maybe it is acceptable.

So, while I'm sad that the type-1 world will not benefit from this research (at least not in the short term), I am happy that our disease is not so dire that a treatment like this is viable.

Phase-II T-Rex Trial Reports Unsuccessful Primary Results

On a completely different note, the T-Rex Trial reported its primary end point.  For background,
you can read my previous blogging about this research here:
https://cureresearch4type1diabetes.blogspot.com/search/label/Polyclonal%20Tregs

A quick summary of this treatment is as follows: remove one specific type of T regulator cell (called "CD4(+)CD25(+)CD127(lo)") from a person with type-1 diabetes.  Grow them out so you have about 500 times more, and then put them back in the same person.  Since regulatory T cells naturally regulate the body's immune system, and the patient now has more of them, the hope is that they will prevent the autoimmune attack which causes type-1 diabetes.

In February, the T-Rex trial reported its primary end point results at 1 year, and they were unsuccessful.  The exact quote was:

no improvement in the primary endpoint of preservation of C-peptide levels vs. placebo at 1 year was observed at the group level (using the standard mixed meal tolerance test)

Of course, the company is hopeful that they can find some good news by reanalyzing the data, looking at subgroups, etc.  but I'm very dubious about this.  In the type-1 diabetes research that I follow, I have yet to see this kind of reanalysis yield a success after the primary analysis was unsuccessful.  The trial is scheduled to collect data for two years, so there should be another update in about a year.

This information all comes from a corporate press release.  There was no mention of a research paper.

Press Release: https://www.caladrius.com/press-release/caladrius-biosciences-reports-top-line-data-for-the-phase-2a-sanford-project-t-rex-trial-of-clbs03-for-recent-onset-type-1-diabetes/
News coverage: http://www.evaluate.com/vantage/articles/interviews/caladrius-refuses-give-tregs-diabetes

Joshua Levy
http://cureresearch4type1diabetes.blogspot.com 
publicjoshualevy at gmail dot com 
All the views expressed here are those of Joshua Levy, and nothing here is official JDRF, JDCA, or Bigfoot Biomedical news, views, policies or opinions. In my day job, I work in software for Bigfoot Biomedical. My daughter has type-1 diabetes and participates in clinical trials, which might be discussed here. My blog contains a more complete non-conflict of interest statement. Thanks to everyone who helps with the blog.

Polyclonal T-Regs Start A Phase-II Trial (T-Rex)

T-Rex is a phase-II study of polyclonal T Regulator ("T-Reg") cells.  It is a follow on study to work done at UCSF and in Poland which I've blogged about in the past:
http://cureresearch4type1diabetes.blogspot.com/search/label/Polyclonal%20Tregs

A quick summary of this treatment is as follows: remove one specific type of T regulator cell (called "CD4(+)CD25(+)CD127(lo)") from a person with type-1 diabetes.  Grow them out so you have about 500 times more, and then put them back in the same person.  Since regulatory T cells naturally regulate the body's immune system, and the patient now has more of them, the hope is that they will prevent the autoimmune attack which causes type-1 diabetes.

The Study

This study will enroll 111 people divided into three groups (low dose, high dose, and placebo). Patients must be between 12 and 17 years old and be honeymooners (within 100 days of diagnosis). They will be followed for two years.  The primary endpoint is C-peptide generation (the body making it's own insulin) after one year, while secondary endpoints are A1C, insulin usage, adverse effects, and C-peptide at two years.

The study started recruiting in February 2016 and is expected to finish in March 2020.

In previous studies, the treatment involves two trips to the clinic (the second being an overnight stay), about two weeks apart.

Currently, this study is recruiting in two locations, but they hope to add more in the future:

Fargo, North Dakota, United States, 58122
    Contact: Kathryn McEvoy    701-234-3722    kathryn.mcevoy@sanfordhealth.org
    Contact: Vicki Oberg    701-234-6722    vicki.oberg@sanfordhealth.org
Sioux Falls, South Dakota, United States, 57104
    Contact: Lynn M Bartholow, BA    800-305-5059    Lynn.bartholow@sanfordhealth.org
    Contact: Alycia Brantz    605-328-1369    Alycia.Brantz@sanfordhealth.org

Discussion

This is a study where speed of recruitment is going to directly impact how long the study takes. This study gathers data for 2 years, so all data will be collected 2 years after the last patient is recruited. However, recruiting 111 teenagers from just two (relatively low population) sites, such as Fargo, North Dakota and Sioux Falls, South Dakota is going to take years.   The sooner they can recruit from more places, and especially higher population cities, the sooner they can finish recruiting, and the sooner we can see if this works.

This study is sponsored by Caladrius Biosciences, Inc. in collaboration with Sanford Health (which is different than Stanford University).  Caladrius Biosciences is a small pharma company specializing in bringing cellular therapies to market.

The term "cellular therapy" refers to treatments that use whole cells.  Cellular therapy itself is a broad topic and can include stem cell therapies, cellular transplants, etc.  In this case it refers to cellular "self transplants" where the patient receives cells that originated inside himself, but have been processed (in this case, grown out) outside his body.

The Company's web site: http://www.caladrius.com/product-candidates/clbs03/
More: https://www.sanfordhealth.org/promo/the-sanford-project
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2016/04/prweb13308934.htm
http://bismarcktribune.com/lifestyles/health-med-fit/year-old-west-fargo-girl-among-handful-of-kids-in/article_f098e85f-a3b7-5ad0-83a9-0f949147a04c.html
Newspaper Article: http://www.grandforksherald.com/accent/health/4037848-grand-forks-student-participates-groundbreaking-t-rex-diabetes-study
Clinical Trial Registery: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02691247

The same group of researchers are planning to start a another trial, which will combine Polyclonal Tregs and IL-2.  I'll blog on that trial when it starts recruiting.

Joshua Levy 
http://cureresearch4type1diabetes.blogspot.com
publicjoshualevy at gmail dot com
All the views expressed here are those of Joshua Levy, and nothing here is official JDRF or JDCA news, views, policies or opinions. My daughter has type-1 diabetes and participates in clinical trials, which might be discussed here. My blog contains a more complete non-conflict of interest statement. Thanks to everyone who helps with the blog.

Possible Cures In The News (August)

The blog posting is a collection of small updates to existing clinical trials.

The TN20 (Oral Insulin) Phase-II Clinical Trial Completes Enrollment 

TN20 is the name of a specific oral insulin clinical trial, which completed enrollment in March 2017. Since this study will follow people for one year, they should finish collecting data in March 2018.

The following blog post:
https://cureresearch4type1diabetes.blogspot.com/2017/07/phase-iii-results-from-oral-insulin.html
covers oral insulin in detail, describing why people think it might prevent type-1 diabetes, and the other clinical trials (and there are several) currently running.

Clinical Trial Registery: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02580877

T-Rex Study Is Half Enrolled

I've previously blogged on the T-Rex study (sometimes under the name "Polyclonal T-Regs"):
https://cureresearch4type1diabetes.blogspot.com/search/label/Polyclonal%20Tregs

It is currently in a phase-II clinical trial, and that trial is now half enrolled (56 people out of 111).

This study is unusual in that it can enroll kids as young as 8, and is recruiting people at over a dozen different sites in the US: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/study/NCT02691247#contacts

News: http://www.diabetes.co.uk/news/2017/jul/pioneering-t-rex-study-reaches-milestone-in-treating-children-with-type-1-diabetes-96973185.html

A quick summary of this treatment is as follows: remove one specific type of T regulator cell (called "CD4(+)CD25(+)CD127(lo)") from a person with type-1 diabetes.  Grow them out so you have about 500 times more, and then put them back in the same person.  Since regulatory T cells naturally regulate the body's immune system, and the patient now has more of them, the hope is that they will prevent the autoimmune attack which causes type-1 diabetes.

Results from the previous phase-I trial found that this treatment preserved beta cells.  C-peptide levels remained constant in the treated group.  Since C-peptide levels drop during the honeymoon period, these treated people did better than untreated people would be expected to do.  The previous phase-I study did not have a control group, but the current phase-II study does.

Results of Phase-I Clinical Trial of REMD-477 for T1D

I probably will not cover this moving forward, because it is more treatment than cure. REMD-477 is a  Glucagon Receptor Antibody.  The hope is that giving this to people with type-1 will cause them to produce less glucagon and therefore use less insulin.   This was a 21 person trial, where half the people got the treatment and half did not.  The people spend a few days in a hospital, and then were followed for a few weeks "in the wild".

They found that glucagon levels did go down (20-30%), insulin requirements did go down (about 10%), and people did spend more time in their target BG range (about 15%), for a few weeks after treatment.

Slides: https://professional.diabetes.org/sites/professional.diabetes.org/files/media/2017_press_program_ppt_pettus-final.pdf
Several Press Releases: http://sashayan.edicy.co/new-media
Clinical Trial Registry: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02715193

They have started a follow up study, which will enroll 75 people and last 24 weeks.  They hope to finish it in Sept-2018: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03117998

I suspect that any treatment which lowers glucagon levels is going to have some impact on people who play sports, and anyone who has an unexpected low (especially if they need a Glucagon injection, but even if not).  This study did not address either of those issues, but I suspect that follow on studies will need to, if they want FDA approval for this as a treatment for type-1 diabetes.

Diamyd Unsuccessful in Phase-II Clinical Trial on Presymptomatics 

This study is another testament to the optimism of researchers.  Diamyd ("GAD Vaccine") has been tested for over 10 years.  None of these trials has been particularly successful.  They culminated in an unsuccessful Phase-III trial years ago.  You can read my previous blogging on Diamyd here:
http://cureresearch4type1diabetes.blogspot.com/search/label/Diamyd

However, researchers are natural optimists.  And it is important that they are.  Society needs optimistic researchers so that they will repeatedly attack problems, and not give up, even in the face of adversity.  Previous Diamyd trials had been done on honeymooners, so this trial was done on presymptomatics. Unfortunately it failed.

News Coverage: http://www.diabetesincontrol.com/ada-alum-gad-diamyd-vaccine-fails-to-prevent-type-1-diabetes
Press Release: http://www.diabetes.org/newsroom/press-releases/2017/larsson-scientific-sessions-2017.html
Clinical Trial Registry: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01122446

Discussion

This trial reminded me that, in the world of type-1 diabetes, if the headline reads "new treatment shown safe" that really means "new treatment is not effective".  Almost all clinical trials aimed at type-1 diabetes measure both safety and effectiveness. This is especially true of phase-II trials, like this one, and phase-III trials. Since effectiveness data is obviously more news worthy than safety data, if the headline talks about safety, that means the treatment was ineffective.

The headline for the press release above is classic that way "Autoantigen GAD-Vaccine is Safe for Children at High Risk for Developing Type 1 Diabetes", while the headline for the news coverage is much more accurate "ADA: Alum-GAD (Diamyd) Vaccine Fails to Prevent Type 1 Diabetes".

Joshua Levy
http://cureresearch4type1diabetes.blogspot.com
publicjoshualevy at gmail dot com
All the views expressed here are those of Joshua Levy, and nothing here is official JDRF or JDCA news, views, policies or opinions. My daughter has type-1 diabetes and participates in clinical trials, which might be discussed here. My blog contains a more complete non-conflict of interest statement. Thanks to everyone who helps with the blog.

Possible Cures for Type-1 in the News (May)

Phase-I Study of Of Gluten Free Diet In Honeymoon Type 1 Diabetes (Diabglut)

This trial will recruit 160 children, aged 3 to 18.  It started in December 2015, and is expected to end in December 2020. Half of the people will be put on a gluten free diet within one month of diagnosis, and the other half will not (and will be the control group).

This study is being done in Skanes University Hospital, Lund, Region Skane, Sweden, 22185
Contact: Annelie Carlsson, MD PhD    +46768267170    annelie.carlsson@med.lu.se
Contact: Iren Tiberg, PhD, nurse       iren.tiberg@med.lu.se

Clinical trial registry: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03037190

Discussion

My first thoughts when I saw this study were: "Why do a study like this?  Does anyone really believe that a gluten free diet will cure/improve type-1 diabetes?"

The researchers included four previous studies as references for this work, but I think the one that mattered was this one:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22729336
This is the case study of a single patient (a five year old boy).  He was was put on a gluten free diet a few weeks after diagnosis, and remained off insulin for 20+ months.  That's an unusually strong honeymoon, and I think it is reasonable to say that the researchers are hoping that they can create that kind of honeymoon in other newly diagnosed people.

For me, case studies (like this one) represent a middle ground between anecdotes and scientific studies.  I don't think they are very strong by themselves, but I do think that following them up with a research study is a good way to proceed.

The other three studies cited by the researchers as background for this research were much less dramatic. One study tried delaying introduction of gluten in the diet of babies: no effect. Another tried putting people with two antibodies on a gluten free diet before diagnosis: no effect on eventual diagnosis, but might have a small effect on beta cell survival after diagnosis. The third study was population based, and suggested that introducing gluten earlier (at 4 months, rather than later) might lower the rate of celiac diagnosed at 12 years. As a population study, I don't put a lot of weight on it, and the impact was to celiac and not type-1, in any case.

Minimal Islet Transplant at Diabetes Onset (MITO)

This is mostly a transplant trial, so I don't expect to follow it moving forward, but it is a different type of transplant, so I'm describing it here.

Most transplants are done on the most seriously impacted people with type-1 diabetes.  These people often have a lot of trouble controlling their type-1, they are often already having serious complications, and are generally on the worst side of the type-1 spectrum.  These are the people who often volunteer for transplantation.

This study is targeting the opposite: people who within 6 months of type-1 diagnoses, and are still generating some residual insulin.  The idea is to transplant some islet cells in combination with ATG, G-CSF, and Rapamycin treatments. It's a "kitchen sink" approach.  All of those treatments are in active clinical trials right now, but none of them has been shown effective so far.

I do think that it will be valuable to get data from people who are not so extremely sick when they get their transplant, although I doubt this will lead to a cure in the short term.

They are recruiting 6 people in Italy:
IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute   Milan, Italy, 20132
Contact: Lorenzo Piemonti, MD   0226432706 ext 39    piemonti.lorenzo@hsr.it
Contact: Paola Maffi, MD       paola.maffi@hsr.it
Contact: Emauele Bosi, MD 0226432818 ext 39 emanuele.bosi@hsr.it

Clinical trial registry: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02505893

T-Rex Now Can Enroll People 8 Years Old, and Older

Previously, they could enroll people as young as 12, but they have enough safe results with those kids, so that the FDA will now allow kids as young as 8 to enroll. You can read all about the technique they are using and who is eligible in my previous blogging:http://cureresearch4type1diabetes.blogspot.com/search?q=T-Rex

Also, the last time I blogged, this study was only recruiting in two locations, but now they are recruiting all over the US, from Oregon to Connecticut to Florida to UCSF, not to mention Tennessee, Missouri, Massachusetts, Indiana, and that is not a complete list.  (See the Clinical Trial Record, link below, to get a complete list.)

This is a phase-II trial which is a follow on to the previous "Polyclonal T-Reg" study, which I also blogged about here:
http://cureresearch4type1diabetes.blogspot.com/search/label/Polyclonal%20Tregs
(Look at all the postings in this link, except the first one, in order to see the history of this treatment.)

Clinical Trial Record: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02691247

Joshua Levy
http://cureresearch4type1diabetes.blogspot.com
publicjoshualevy at gmail dot com
All the views expressed here are those of Joshua Levy, and nothing here is official JDRF or JDCA news, views, policies or opinions. My daughter has type-1 diabetes and participates in clinical trials, which might be discussed here. My blog contains a more complete non-conflict of interest statement. Thanks to everyone who helps with the blog.

Possible Cures for Type-1 in the News (November)

Merck Cancels "Smart Insulin" (MK-2640) After Unsuccessful Phase-I Trial

This is the news everyone hoped we would not get.  After completing a phase-I trial of "Smart Insulin" (also known as MK-2640), Merck has decided not to move forward with it.  They have not published the results, but have published this: "MK-2640 was discontinued due to lack of efficacy".

News report:  http://www.pharmaceutical-journal.com/news-and-analysis/features/towards-a-smarter-insulin/20203828.article

Discussion

This was the first (and so far only) glucose responsive insulin to be tested in humans.  However, there are several "smart insulins" being tested in animals, not to mention "smart artificial cells" and "smart membrane" based technologies, all aimed at automatically regulating the amount of insulin in the blood stream.  I expect some of these to enter human trials in the next few years.  So "smart insulin" may yet be a trail blazer, even if it itself was unsuccessful.

If results from this study are ever published, I'll blog on them here.  However, there is nothing forcing Merck to publish these results if they don't want to.

Phase-II T-Rex Trial Update

Caladrius Biosciences recently announced that they had enrolled the 70th patient (out of 111) in their clinical trial of CLBS03 for T1D.  So it has taken them roughly 18 months to recruit 2/3 of the patients they need.  If they can keep up that pace, they will finish recruiting in the third quarter of 2018, and finish collecting data in the third quarter of 2019, and publish in 2020.

Previous Blogging: http://cureresearch4type1diabetes.blogspot.com/search/label/Polyclonal%20Tregs

A quick summary of this treatment is as follows: remove one specific type of T regulator cell (called "CD4(+)CD25(+)CD127(lo)") from a person with type-1 diabetes.  Grow them out so you have about 500 times more, and then put them back in the same person.  Since regulatory T cells naturally regulate the body's immune system, and the patient now has more of them, the hope is that they will prevent the autoimmune attack which causes type-1 diabetes.

They are recruiting patients in about 15 locations all over the US, so read the clinical trial registry to get a complete list and some contact information.

News Report: https://www.caladrius.com/press-release/caladrius-biosciences-announces-enrollment-of-the-70th-subject-in-the-phase-2-t-rex-clinical-trial-of-clbs03-for-type-1-diabetes/
Clinical Trial Registry: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02691247

SIMPONI (Golimumab) Starts A Phase-I Trial In Pre-Symptomatics

Golimumab (sold as Simponi) is an immune system modulator, which has been approved in the United States and many other countries for treatment of several autoimmune diseases, so testing it on type-1 diabetes makes a lot of sense.  This is the second trial underway for this drug.  (The other one is called T1GER, and is for honeymooners.)  Simponi has already been approved to treat rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, ulcerative colitis, and ankylosing spondylitis.

This study is recruiting people who have two autoimmune antibodies (but no other symptoms of type-1 diabetes). They are recruiting 30 kids (aged 6-21), and will follow them for 17 months. Each kid will get 26 weekly injections.  Half the patients will get Simponi and the other half will get a placebo.  They hope to finish this study in mid 2021.

This study is current recruiting in Linkoping University Hospital, Linkoping, Sweden, SE 58185.
Study contact: 844-434-4210 JNJ.CT@sylogent.com
They hope to start recruiting at other locations in Sweden and Finland soon.

The unusual thing about this trial is that they will not measure any effectiveness data at all.  The only data gathered will be safety and side effect data.  No C-peptide data, no A1c, or insulin usage.  That's very unusual for a type-1 diabetes study.  In my experience, even the phase-I studies gather some effectiveness data.

Clinical Trial Record: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03298542
Previous Clinical Trial Record: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02846545

Joshua Levy
http://cureresearch4type1diabetes.blogspot.com
publicjoshualevy at gmail dot com
All the views expressed here are those of Joshua Levy, and nothing here is official JDRF or JDCA news, views, policies or opinions. My daughter has type-1 diabetes and participates in clinical trials, which might be discussed here. My blog contains a more complete non-conflict of interest statement. Thanks to everyone who helps with the blog.

What To Fund in 2017?

Several weeks ago, I was having lunch with someone heavily involved in JDRF, and he asked me for my opinion about what research they should fund.   I'm embarrassed to say that I was surprised by the question, and I did not have a good answer for it.  However, I've now had some weeks to think about it, and it is a question that has come up before, so here are my "top five" answers:

The Cell Educator
http://cureresearch4type1diabetes.blogspot.com/search/label/Zhao

The stem cell educator is a machine which takes the immune cells from a person's blood, exposes them to various organic molecules which are designed to change their behavior so they learn not to attack beta cells.  The cells are then returned to the body.  This device has already gone through a phase-I trial in China, and the results were the best I've ever seen in terms of people generating more of their own insulin after treatment.  The effect lasted for months and in some cases years.  It was very positive.

So my simple minded attitude is, if this is the best phase-I results I've ever seen, it makes sense to fund a push into phase-II (or at least a second phase-I trial done in the US).  Now this is not as obvious as it might sound.  JDRF did fund some animal work at the University of Florida, but the results were never published.  (Not a good sign.)   Similarly, there was some work in Spain, in people, and it was discussed in conferences, but never published, at least not that I've seen.  (Not a good sign, either.)   And that Spanish data did not sound as positive as the original Chinese work.  But at the end of the day, I'm willing to put some money into seeing what happens when a clinical trial is run in the US, even it if is a small one.

Verapamil
http://cureresearch4type1diabetes.blogspot.com/search/label/Verapamil

Verapamil is a high blood pressure medicine which the researchers hope could cure type-1 diabetes if given during the honeymoon phase.  As far as I know, it's method of operation is unique.  Plus, it has the advantage of already being approved, so it could quickly be used off label, and eventual approval would be quicker than other drugs.  But it is honeymoon only.

The reason they are on the list is because it is clear to me that they are having trouble recruiting enough people to complete their study.   I hate that.  They are running the entire study from one site, and that limits the area from which they can recruit.   I'm hoping some JDRF money would let them start up another site or two, so they could get the people they need.

INSULETE
(no previous blogging: in animal testing)
http://www.wisbusiness.com/index.Iml?Article=383101

Because this research is still in animal testing, I've never blogged on it, so why do I like it?  For several reasons: First, it uses gene therapy to reprogram a person's cells to generate insulin in response to sugar, and that is novel, at least as far as I know.  Second, the targeted cells are not pancreatic cells, they are liver cells.  This is important, because I think there is a reasonable chance that these new cells will not be targeted by the body's autoimmune attack.

It's not a sure thing; we don't know exactly why beta cells are targeted.  If it has something to do with their pancreatic location or their beta cell nature, then these "hotwired" liver cells will not be targeted.  (Unfortunately, if beta cells are targeted because they generate insulin, then these new cells will be targeted as well, and this research will not lead to a cure.)

Finally, gene therapy involves risk; it is still in it's infancy.  I think that risk is scaring away pharma money, and for me, that is a good reason for JDRF to put some money in. This company is hoping to go into clinical trials in 2018.  I'm hoping some JDRF money could get them there faster.

If more than one research group is working on turning liver cells into functional beta cells, then I'd organize a "cage fight," as described below, between the data from the different groups.

Artemisinin-Class Cage Fight
http://www.techtimes.com/articles/187635/20161203/malaria-drug-artemisinin-spurs-cells-to-produce-insulin-shows-promise-as-type-1-diabetes-treatment.htm

Artemisinin is an antimalarial drug, which (in animals) encourages pancreatic alpha cells to naturally morph into beta cells.  Since beta cells are what are being killed off in type-1 diabetes, this is important.  However, I've never thought that a drug like this could cure type-1 by itself, because the body's autoimmune attack would kill off the new beta cells same as it killed off the old ones. However, a drug like this might end up being half of a cure; the other half would be something to stop the autoimmune attack.  It also may extend the honeymoon period, or maybe make the honeymoon permanent.  And getting the body to generate it's own beta cells might be a lot easier than producing them from stem cells, growing them in test tubes, or whatever.

Now I don't want to just say "fund Artemisinin", partly because it's only half a cure, and partly because I think there are several drugs with effects potentially similar to this one.  That is where the "cage fight" comes in.  I want JDRF to lock some of their research staff in a room with all the animal data for all the drugs which are supposed to help convert alpha cells into beta cells, and then reach consensus among themselves as to which of the drugs is most promising in animals (especially NOD mice), and fund that one.  This form of research "cage fight" involves comparing the existing data on specific results in a head-to-head way, and funding only the best.  (If you read the book Moneyball you will see some similarities.)  If JDRF is feeling flush, maybe they can fund the top two.  Of course, maybe they already do this, and I just don't know about it.

Quarterback Option (on Phase-I)

For those of you who do not follow American football: a quarterback option is when one player takes the ball and starts a play, and then, based on what the  other team does during the play, changes the play to try to take advantage of what is seen, as it happens.  In this context, what I mean is that JDRF should pay particular attention to several interesting, ongoing phase-I trials, and if any of them are clearly successful, rush some funding in there quickly.

By "clearly successful" I don't mean that the researchers themselves say it is a success (they almost always do).  Rather, before the study is published, I think JDRF's team should look at the data being gathered, and decide internally what level of result would cause JDRF to call up the researchers the week after publication and say "We've got a half million dollars (or whatever) and we want to push your research ahead, quickly.  What can we do together, now."

For example, there is a 5 person, 6 month, phase-I combination trial of Exsulin and Ustekinumab. Now Exsulin (previously known as INGAP) has been tested twice before, in much larger trials, and did not have good results either time, so I'm not "holding my breath".  But combining it with Ustekinumab is unique, and could be the missing link needed for success.   This trial is so small that even success might not be successful enough to get pharma interested.  But if JDRF had a preloaded internal decision, something like if two or more patients do not need to inject insulin for 4 or more months then they should release 1/2 million or a million for quick-starting phase-I trial to get some more data (maybe lasting longer, or enrolling children, or testing different doses, or something that builds on the previous trial).

I think JDRF should have these sort of preloaded funding triggers ready for many of the small phase-I trials that are ongoing.  Of course, maybe they do, and I just don't know about it.

Discussion

Choosing these particular research areas was hard for several reasons:

The hardest to explain is the success/support trade off.  To put it bluntly, if research is really successful already, there is little need for JDRF to fund it, because companies will already be interested in it, and will fund it themselves without non-profit help.  So there is no need for JDRF to fund research which has already been successful enough to attract corporate support.

On the other hand, I don't want to suggest that JDRF fund a bunch of research which is failing, either! So I'm looking for research which is in a "sweet-spot".  It shows promise and deserves some extra funding, but is not so obviously successful that commercial companies already have enough information to fund it.

This "sweet-spot" exists mostly as phase-I clinical trials and research which is almost ready to start phase-I trials.  If research has started phase-II trials, then pharma is likely already interested in it, and even if not, by the end of phase-II there will certainly been enough news to attract pharma, if the news is good.  On the other hand, any earlier in animal tests, means the chance of failure is high enough, that I'd prefer to put money into something a little more promising.  So all of the research I suggested above is either in phase-I trials, or near to starting them.

One of the reasons I've never made a blog posting like this one, is that I know I'm going to piss off every researcher not on the list above (which is most of them!)   And I'm sorry for that.  If it's any consolation, many of the already running clinical trials are not here either because pharma is already supporting them (example: T-Rex, artificial pancreases, Viacyte, etc) or because the existing trials are large enough so that they will answer the important questions without more funding (examples: BCG, Gleevec, etc.)


Joshua Levy
http://cureresearch4type1diabetes.blogspot.com 
publicjoshualevy at gmail dot com
All the views expressed here are those of Joshua Levy, and nothing here is official JDRF or JDCA news, views, policies or opinions. My daughter has type-1 diabetes and participates in clinical trials, which might be discussed here. My blog contains a more complete non-conflict of interest statement. Thanks to everyone who helps with the blog.

Presymptomatics and Two Clinical Trials for Victoza / Liraglutide

First, a new word: "Presymptomatic". This refers to people who have tested positive for two autoantibodies, but who have no other symptoms of type-1 diabetes. Their blood glucose levels are normal (not elevated), etc.

Presymptomatics are not yet diagnosed with type-1 diabetes in the classic way, but current theory is that all of these people will eventually be diagnosed. It is just a matter of time. So in the same way I might say "Drug X starts a phase-I trial in honeymooners" or "Treatment Y starts a prevention trial" or "Drug Z starts a trial in people with established type-1 diabetes", I will also start to report "Drug W starts a phase-I trial in presymptomatics".

You can think of presymptomatics as pre-honeymooners.  They are like honeymooners, but even earlier in the disease process.

I also want to stress that although the JDRF, the ADA, and the Endocrine Society agree that two autoantibodies is the earliest diagnostic for type-1 diabetes, this is not universal agreement, and what agreement there is, is only about 2 years old.  Here are some web sites which describe this view of the stages of type-1 diabetes:

• https://www.trialnet.org/t1d-facts/stages-t1d
• http://www.jdrf.org/press-releases/jdrf-and-the-american-diabetes-association-in-collaboration-with-multiple-diabetes-organizations-publish-new-classification-and-staging-approach-for-presymptomatic-type-1-diabetes/

This also changes when "diagnosis" occurs.  In the past, diagnosis occurred when symptoms were seen, and confirmed with a blood glucose measurement.  However, now diagnosis occurs when two autoantibodies are measured, and this is often years before symptoms are seen, or blood glucose levels are noticeably abnormal.

So, moving forward, I will use the term "classic diagnosis" or to refer to people who were diagnosed because they showed symptoms, as was done in the past, so it's obvious what kind of diagnosis I'm talking about.

Discussion

I expect there will be more studies like the two described below, that specifically target presymptomatics. After all, any treatment that researchers thought might work for honeymooners (but did not), should now be retested on presymptomatics. This is especially true of treatments which change the immune system.

In the past, it's generally been understood that to cure type-1 diabetes, you needed to change the immune system (so it stopped generating autoantibodies and stopped attacking beta cells), but you also needed to regrow beta cells.  However, presymptomatics have enough beta cells so that they can regulate their own blood glucose levels.   To cure them (ie. to prevent symptoms from ever showing up), "all" you need to do is change the immune system.  No need to regrow any beta cells.

That sounds important, and it is, especially when you think about treatments that have already been shown to stop the destruction of beta cells.  In the last 5-10 years, several treatments have been shown to "preserve beta cells" meaning that once given, beta cells stop being killed off by the immune system.  Since these studies were typically done in honeymooners, this did not cure anybody, it just extended the honeymoon.

But if those same treatments showed the same results in presymptomatics, then it could be said that they prevented type-1 diabetes.  I very much hope that every treatment which has previously been found to preserve beta cells, will now be tested on presymptomatics. Some of the treatments which have preserved beta cells in honeymoon diabetics (at least to some degree) are: T-Rex (polyclonal Tregs), Abatacept (Orencia), Etanercept (ENBREL), and Teplizumab. 

Victoza / Liraglutide Starts A Phase-I Trial In Presymptomatics

About this trial: it's testing the theory that Liraglutide (sold as Victoza) might help people use less insulin or delay their use of insulin, when given to people before they are classically diagnosed with type-1 diabetes.  This is an early phase-I trial.  Only 10 people will be enrolled, and there is no control group.   This trial recruits people who have started to have trouble generating insulin in response to food that they've eaten.  They will be followed for one year.  The trial started in March 2016 and they hope to finish by July 2018.

They are recruiting only by invitation at several nordic hospitals:

• University of Oulu and Oulu University Hospital, Dept of Children and Adolescents Oulu, Finland, 90029
• University of Tampere and Tampere University Hospital Tampere, Finland, 33520
• University of Turku and Turku University Hospital Turku, Finland, 20520
• Lund University and Skåne University Hospital Malmö, Sweden, 205 02

Clinical Trial Record: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02908087

Discussion

The Clinical Trial Record lists this as a phase-II trial, but with only 10 people included and no control group, I consider it a phase-I trial.

I don't see how this trial could ever prove any level of effectiveness.  We don't know how many people eligible to enroll in this study would "naturally" have type-1 diabetes symptoms within the one year study time.   And, this trial has no control group.  So there is no way to compare the results from this study to "normal" results to see if it worked or not.

It could show safety, but the drug being tested has been approved for use in overweight people and also people with type-2 diabetes for years, and is used "off label" by some people with type-1 diabetes, so safety is not really an issue.

Victoza / Liraglutide Starts A Phase-I Trial In Presymptomatics

This trial is similar to the one above, except that it is much larger, and recruiting a slightly different population.  This second trial recruits people who have two autoantibodies and one of several different glucose abnormalities, so it's a larger group of people, and also more in tune with the "two autoantibodies means type-1 diabetes" definition of Presymptomatic.  

This is an phase-II- trial which will enroll 82 people with half in a control group and half getting the treatment.  People will be followed for one year.  The trial started in 2016, and is expected to finish in mid 2019.  They are recruiting by invitation only at the same hospitals listed in the previous trial.

Clinical Trial Record: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02898506

Discussion

(As you read this remember that I'm not a statistician, and have never take a college level class in statistics.)
I'm a little worried about the statistical power of this study.  They are going to have 41 people in their treatment group, and will follow them for one year.  The data I've seen suggests that about 10% of the people with two more more autoantibodies will show classic type-1 diabetes systems each year.  So that means that we should expect about 4 from this group to show symptoms by the end of the study. If this treatment were perfect in preventing type-1 diabetes, then 0 in the treated group would show symptoms.   But the difference between 0 and 4 is not that large.   And the treatment is unlikely to be perfect the first time it is tested.  Let's say that 2 people in the treated group get symptoms, but 4 people in the untreated group get them.  Is that a 50% reduction in diagnosis (which would be huge) or is that just a little good luck involving two patients?  It's hard to tell, and that is what I'm worried about.

On the other hand, this is a phase-II study, so will not be the last word, in any case, and Victoza is already approved, so is not a particularly risky drug.  Also, if the results for the first year are good, then it would be relatively easy to extend this trial for another year (or longer) which would increase its statistical power.

Joshua Levy 
http://cureresearch4type1diabetes.blogspot.com
publicjoshualevy at gmail dot com
All the views expressed here are those of Joshua Levy, and nothing here is official JDRF or JDCA news, views, policies or opinions. My daughter has type-1 diabetes and participates in clinical trials, which might be discussed here. My blog contains a more complete non-conflict of interest statement. Thanks to everyone who helps with the blog.

Update on the University of Jordan's Stem Cell Project

The University of Jordan recently announced the start of a phase-I trial of stem cells. While researching that, I found that they had already published results from a pilot study done at Stem Cells of Arabia (also in Jordan). So in this blog posting, I will first discuss the results of the pilot study, and then the phase-I study they are starting now. Even though these trials were sponsored by different organizations, I consider them part of the same research program.

What Is Being Tested?

These researchers are taking someone's own blood, and then process it before putting it back into the person's body.  I'm not sure the exact nature of this processing.  The pilot study makes it sound similar to Dr. Zhao's work (exposing the patient's cells to stem cells).  However, an interview in ASweetLife.com makes it sound like a filtering process.  It may be both.  The description in the FDA Clinical Trial record for their upcoming phase-I study talks about donors and "passaging" the cells, which might be a shorthand for the same process used in the pilot study.  Whatever their process is, it focuses on three types of immune cell markers: CD34+, CD133+, and CD271+. The process is similar to Dr. Zhao's and also to the T-Rex study. This is not a classic transplant, because the patient is getting their own cells back, and immune suppression drugs are not used.

Results from Stem Cells of Arabia's Pilot Trial of Stem Cells

The only information I have is from an abstract. I think it is from a talk given at the 2015 International Cord Blood Symposium conference, and was published in the journal Transfusion (abstract only).
The patients' average age was 35 years old, but ranged from 13-52, but there was no information on their honeymoon status.  The average A1c at start was 9.0, average Fasting Blood Sugar 350 (although I'm not sure what that means in a type-1 diabetic), C-peptide average was 0.06 (three people had 0.00 and one had 0.23.
Here is the complete results section of the abstract: 

There were no complications over the follow up period (14-51 months). Three out of four patients completely stopped their insulin requirement at 6 months. All 4 patients showed significant improvements in Fasting Blood Sugar (average 145), C-peptide (average 1.01), and HbA1c (average 7.0), during 12 months post transplantation.

Discussion

This is a study where only having the abstract really hurts.  Obviously, these results look very good, but there are key details missing. If the reported C-peptide numbers are fasting, and measured in ng/ml, those are excellent, but if they are in response to eating, then they are not particularly strong. (The abstract does not say.) Having 3 out of 4 patients not using insulin at six months is great, but there is no information on how long each person did not need to use insulin.  The results are great for established type-1 diabetes, but the abstract doesn't say how many people are established vs. honeymooners.

Based on those results, it is easy to see why this group is excited about doing a larger study. I'm excited too!

   University of Jordan Starts a Phase 1 Trial of Stem Cells

This is the start of the study which was previously discussed on ASweetLIfe:
https://asweetlife.org/jordanian-researchers-working-on-stem-cell-treatment-for-type-1-diabetes/
Now the study has officially started and there is a FDA Clinical Trial Record with the details of how the study will work.

This is a 20 person study, which will enroll adults (between 18 and 35) who have been diagnosed within 3 years, or are still generating C-peptide at a rate of 0.5 ng/ml or more. They expect to finish the study in July 2018.  Some people will get a small dose of stem cells, while others get a larger dose.  There is no control group.  Patients will be followed for 36 weeks.  The primary outcome is safety after 6 months.  No effectiveness outcomes are mentioned.

Cell Therapy Center,  Amman, Jordan, 11942
Contact: Abdalla Awidi, MD    0096265355000 ext 23960    abdalla.awidi@gmail.com
(I think this phone number would be  +96265355000 ext 23960, where + means "whatever you need to do to get an international number".)

Web site: http://www.stemcellsarabia.net/ and http://centers.ju.edu.jo/en/ctc/Home.aspx
Clinical trial registry: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02940418

Discussion

This is a quick study.  Expecting to have results in less than 18 months is much faster than most clinical trials, and from my point of view, that's a good thing.  On the other hand, there is no mention of reporting on the things that people with type-1 would care about.  No A1c data, no C-peptide data, and no insulin usage data is listed in the secondary outcomes.  Hopefully those things will be reported on, but most studies (even phase-I studies) list these as secondary outcomes.

This research is based on the same basic ideas which also led to Dr. Zhao's "Cell Educator" research, but the two approaches are not the same treatment.  Dr. Al-Zoubi's group is taking stem cells from a person with type-1 diabetes, treating them, and then injecting them back into that patient.  Dr. Zhao is taking stem cells from third parties, and then exposing people's immune cells to proteins made by those cells, but the stem cells themselves are never injected into the patient.   But both approaches are trying to harness proteins created by stem cells.

Joshua Levy 
http://cureresearch4type1diabetes.blogspot.com 
publicjoshualevy at gmail dot com 
All the views expressed here are those of Joshua Levy, and nothing here is official JDRF or JDCA news, views, policies or opinions. My daughter has type-1 diabetes and participates in clinical trials, which might be discussed here. My blog contains a more complete non-conflict of interest statement. Thanks to everyone who helps with the blog.

Possible Cures for Type-1 in the News (September)

Catching Up With NNC0114­-0006 (Anti IL-21)

Back in 2015 Novo-Norsk started a clinical trial into a combo treatment of NNC0114-0006 and Liraglutide (which is more commonly known as Victoza).  I ignored this trial, because I thought that NNC0114-0006 was a new form of insulin, and they were testing a treatment for type-1 diabetes. However, I have since found out that NNC0114-0006 targets IL-21 and that Liraglutide may stimulate beta cell growth.  Therefore, this combination could have the effect of stopping the autoimmune attack while at the same time regrowing beta cells, and that would be a path to a cure.

Liraglutide is approved for use in type-2 diabetes and works by increasing insulin production. Recently, experiments in mice have suggested that it works (at least partly) by helping the body grow more beta cells, and preventing the death of beta cells:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4418765/

NNC0114-0006 is an anti IL-21 treatment.  IL-21 is a chemical that the immune system uses for communication, and several experiments have suggested that too much IL-21 is important to creating type-1 diabetes:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18779574
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19208913
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00125-015-3509-8
(and there are many more such studies.)

So combining these two treatments provides a possible path to a cure.

The Current Study

The study that started in 2015 is a phase-II? trial (the question mark means that it is a phase-II trial, but there has never been a phase-I trial for this combination of treatments).  The basic study design is four groups: one group gets both treatments, one group gets two placebos, one group gets NNC0114-0006 and placebo, and one group gets Liraglutide and a placebo.  So they have all their bases covered. The study is large: 304 people recruited from 100+ sites all over the US and Europe.

The clinical trial record says that this study is recruiting patients.  However, when I look at the list of locations, every one is marked "Active, not recruiting", "Completed", or "Suspended", so I'm very hopeful that they have recruited all the patients that they need.  That is important, because they expect to collect data for 80 weeks.  Their target completion date is April 2019.

This is actually the fifth study of NNC0114­-0006.  You can see the list here:
https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?cond=&term=NNC0114%C2%AD-0006
The four previous studies were smaller (between 10 and 65 people), and were done on other autoimmune diseases: Rheumatoid Arthritis, Crohn's Disease, and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.

Clinical Trial Registry: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02443155
Other Study ID Numbers: NN9828-4150
2014-001215-39 ( EudraCT Number )
U1111-1154-7172 ( Other Identifier: WHO )
REec-2015-1768 ( Registry Identifier: Spanish registry )

Metreleptin Fails A Phase-I Trial

Back in the 2008-2010 timeframe there was some hope that Leptin would cure type-1 diabetes, and a clinical trial was started in 2010.  Then in 2015 the trial was canceled by one of the sponsors.  Finally, now in 2017 the results have been published, and the conclusions are:

Metreleptin is safe but may not be efficacious in improving glycemic control in patients with T1DM, although it reduces body weight and daily insulin dose modestly.

You can read my previous blogging here:
http://cureresearch4type1diabetes.blogspot.com/search/label/Leptin
The abstract is here: http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/40/5/694?etoc
Clinical Trial Record: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01268644

Interesting Treatment for Multiple Sclerosis

I usually do not blog on cures or treatments for other diseases.  However, MS, type-1 diabetes and several other diseases are all from the same family of "autoimmune diseases".  They are all caused by the body's immune system attacking a different organ or internal system.  So in theory, research into curing one of these diseases might help cure the others.

So with that in mind, I thought this study was interesting:
Multiple Sclerosis Therapy NKTR-358 Begins Phase 1 Clinical Trial:

Basically, this company has a treatment which causes a person to generate more Treg cells.  Since Treg cells regulate the immune system, having more of them might prevent the immune system from attacking the wrong cells.  In type-1 diabetes, we have several research programs aimed at increasing Treg counts, but usually by growing more Tregs outside the body, and then infusing them into the body (T-Rex, Stem Cell Educator, and Stem Cells of Arabia are all working on similar ideas). NKTR-358 is a treatment which (they hope) will cause the body to generate more Treg cells, itself.

Also, NKTR-358 works at least partially, by targeting the IL-2 receptor in the immune system, and this receptor is also an active target of research in type-1:
http://cureresearch4type1diabetes.blogspot.com/2016/05/general-update-on-il-2-research.html
(and the IL-2 targeted by NKTR-358 is different than the IL-21 targeted by NNC0114-0006 above.)

Company Information: http://www.nektar.com/pipeline/rd-pipeline/nktr-358
Some animal data: http://www.nektar.com/application/files/6514/9970/7031/Langowski_NKTR-358_WCI2017.pdf

Joshua Levy
http://cureresearch4type1diabetes.blogspot.com 
publicjoshualevy at gmail dot com 
All the views expressed here are those of Joshua Levy, and nothing here is official JDRF or JDCA news, views, policies or opinions. My daughter has type-1 diabetes and participates in clinical trials, which might be discussed here. My blog contains a more complete non-conflict of interest statement. Thanks to everyone who helps with the blog.