TORONTO – Canadian doctors are the first in the world to test an innovative therapy that could change the face of diabetes treatment.
Scientists at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto say that using insulin at the onset of diabetes could stop the disease in its tracks.
They’re putting their findings to the test in a landmark clinical study in which diabetes patients will receive insulin therapy for a week every few months to stave off the condition.
The novel idea flips traditional therapy on its head – right now, insulin is usually the last option in the course of treatment for patients. But at that point, the body’s ability to produce insulin is almost gone.
Lead scientist Dr. Ravi Retnakaran, an endocrinologist at the hospital and University of Toronto professor, says that readers should compare the new therapy to getting a haircut.
“I liken the treatment to treating your hair – you get a haircut every six to eight weeks. We’re saying that perhaps we can treat diabetes this way. Give intensive insulin, improve beta cells, stop and let the person go on with their lives. Then three months later, treat them again for just one week, and then keep doing this,” he told Global News.
The therapy is called RESET IT or Remission Studies Evaluating Type 2 Diabetes – Intermittent Insulin Therapy.
Retnakaran is recruiting 150 patients for his study. They can be men or women between 30 and 80 years old who are no more than five years into their diabetes. The research will be conducted at Mount Sinai in Toronto, along with sites in London and Hamilton, Ont.
The fundamental problem in diabetes is a defect in the cells in the pancreas that make insulin – or a decrease of beta cells.
“This defect is progressive, it gets worse and worse over time and, unfortunately, none of our current medications change that natural history,” Retnakaran said.
Over one million Canadians suffer from Type 2 diabetes, and a further two million are considered to be at high risk of developing the disease.
Once diagnosed, patients will monitor their blood sugar levels, and start incorporating daily medications into their therapy but as beta cell production declines, they eventually end up with taking insulin injections.
But previous research suggests that introducing insulin therapy earlier on, instead of when diabetes has worsened, offers benefits.
Retnakaran’s analysis of seven studies on this idea support providing new diabetes patients with three weeks of insulin therapy to stave off the disease. This overcompensation of the protein helps keep up insulin production.
“It’s a jumpstart, resetting the beta cells,” he said.
The three weeks is enough to force temporary remission of diabetes, his findings suggest. They were published Tuesday in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology.
“The problem is that remission is not permanent. It eventually wanes and we need to try to retain this remission.”
In his RESET IT clinical trials, Retnakaran is hoping to induce longer remission by giving patients doses of insulin every few months. They’ll start with a three-week insulin therapy – because the science has already suggested that works – and then patients will get insulin therapy for a week every three months.
The trial will be held over two years.
He says he’s looking for patients early into their diabetes because their ability to produce insulin is still intact.
In the meantime, the Mount Sinai researchers are wrapping up another study in which patients had a three-week insulin treatment and then followed it up with daily doses of regular diabetes drugs.
To learn more about Retnakaran’s study or to take part in the clinical trials, call Mount Sinai’s Diabetes Unit at 416-586-8775.
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