Johnson & Johnson Announces Partnership with Diamyd Medical for Type 1 Diabetes Immune Therapy Vaccine

Johnson & Johnson (owner of LifeScan, Animas, the J&J Diabetes Institute, and Children with Diabetes) recently announced an agreement with Diamyd Medical to support the research and development of Diamyd’s GAD 65 vaccine for the treatment (but ideally the prevention) of type 1 diabetes. The vaccine (appropriately dubbed the Diamyd vaccine) works by exposing the body to GAD antigen, one of the common self-targets of autoimmune attack in type 1 diabetes. The therapy is currently in phase 3 pre-approval trials in both Europe and the United States and is intended for patients recently diagnosed with type 1 diabetes or Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults (LADA). Promisingly, though only tested in a small number of subjects thus far, the vaccine has been demonstrated to slow the destruction of insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas with limited side effects. We see this agreement as a positive step for patients and the further development of this unique therapy – support from a large company such as Johnson & Johnson is surely promising for Diamyd and will help differentiate the vaccine from the number of other cure-based therapies in development. If someone you know is between 10 and 20 years old and was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes within the past three months, be sure to check out DiaPrevent, a national diabetes research study evaluating the potential of the Diamyd vaccine to help preserve insulin producing capacity in new patients. --AB