The Pharmaceutical Journal Vol 267 No 7176 p767-773
1 December 2001

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Peptide injection prevents progression of diabetes

An immunomodulatory petide, DiaPep277, developed by Peptor, prevents further destruction of insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells in patients with newly diagnosed diabetes, a phase II trial shows. Type 1 diabetes results from autoimmune destruction of insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells and to cure the disease this process would have to be stopped in time to rescue the cells, Dr Itamar Raz, Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical School, Jerusalem, and colleagues say.

The researchers randomly assigned 35 patients, aged between 16 and 55 years, with a diagnosis of diabetes of less than six months, to receive three subcutaneous injections of either DiaPep277 (18 patients) or placebo (17 patients). Patients were injected at enrolment, one month and six months.

The researchers say that patients assigned DiaPep277 needed less insulin to control their blood glucose concentrations than those in the placebo group. They say that the increasing need for exogenous insulin over time by patients in the placebo group can be attributed to the progressive loss of the few beta cells that were still functional at the time these patients entered the study.

The researchers add: “The ideal population for treatment with DiaPep277 would be those with subclinical autoimmunity whose beta cell destruction has not yet manifest clinically as type 1 diabetes; the permanent arrest of subclinical beta cell destruction would constitute cure.” They say that more information on the safety and effectiveness of DiaPep277 in recent onset diabetes should pave the way to preventive treatment of those at risk (Lancet 2001;358:1749).

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