New trials aim for prevention of diabetes rather than cure

Abstract

Rather than pour energy into refining treatments for diabetic complications, some researchers are going for gold: the prevention of diabetes before it starts. A large-scale trial of antigen-based therapies has begun in people predicted to be at risk for insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM), while researchers from Canada and the US believe that preventing the development of noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) in people with impaired glucose tolerance may now be possible. News of this research was presented at the 54th Annual Meeting of the American Diabetes Association [New Orleans, US; June 1994].