Four Months of New Studies (Jan-April 2014)

The FDA requires registration of all clinical trials done in the US, or used to get approval for the US market.  Since just about everyone wants to get their drugs sold in the US, this is pretty much a list of all clinical trials.  It is a public database, and I searched it for all new trials starting in the first four months of 2014.  Here is a quick summary:

60 Studies Total
15 - Management of type-1 diabetes carb counting, exercise, etc.
 9 - Artificial Pancreas research and testing
 8 - Insulin testing
 8 - "Interesting" Possible cures for type-1 diabetes.  I will blog on each of these.
 6 - Basic or genetic research
 6 - Complications (this includes 2 tests on Glucagon)
 4 - Equipment (Pump or CGM)
 4 - Non-insulin treatments for type-1.  I might blog on these, if I have time.

This is actually pretty good news because about 13% of the studies are "possible cures".  In the past this number has been closer to 4%, so that's a noticeable improvement.  The interesting trials include these:

• AAT - Follow on to previous studies (Pathway 5: Inflammation)
• Beta-O2 - Follow on to a previous case study (Pathway 4: Encapsulated Beta Cells)
• Secukinumab - First in type-1 study (Pathway 1: Blocking Autoimmunity)
• Ustekinumab First in type-1 study (Pathway 1: Blocking Autoimmunity)
• Stem Cells - Implantation of bone marrow stem cells
• AbATE - Extended data collection for teplizumab trial (Pathway 1: Blocking Autoimmunity)
• BCG - Dr. Faustman's trial (Pathway 1: Blocking Autoimmunity)
• ORMID-801 - Oral Insulin (Pathway 1: Training Immunity)

The "Pathway #" come from a report that I worked on with JDCA, which you can read here: http://www.thejdca.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Platforms-Report-.pdf.  It provides a basic overview of how type-1 diabetes might be cured.

The non-insulin treatments include Liraglutide (Victoza) and PF-06342674.

Also, in the past, there has sometimes been a trial so silly it was worth mentioning.  But this time I did not see anything really silly.

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 Tidepool 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.