Diabetes clinical trial accepting third round of participants

Greg Ackland has gone from taking four medications per day, to managing his Type 2 diabetes with just a diet and daily exercise with the help of a clinical trial at St. Joseph’s Health Care.

The 51-year-old man participated in a study led by the Lawson Health Research Institute. It aims to induce remission, and has captured enough attention that it’s now launching its third round of clinical trials.

“It’s given me more life,” said Ackland, who is pleased that he has been able to manage his blood sugar levels without medication for two years now.

Ackland was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes more than six years ago, after being treated for a mild infection following a hernia operation.

“It’s a progressive disease, and it’s something that your medications will increase and you could end up on insulin as you age in your years… this program has given me the chance to restart that, so probably push a lot of that stuff off later in life or maybe not at all.”

Researcher Dr. Irene Hramiak says the study’s goal is to take a proactive approach to help people early in the disease’s progression by normalizing the blood sugars for four months and then slowing its progression and need for additional medication.

“We want to know if we can induce remission, for how long, and whether it matters what combination of medications we use,” she said.

After being diagnosed with the same disease, Jocelyn Chauvin, a 62-year-old retired French immersion teacher, remembers being told she’d also work her way up to four pills a day. Through a healthy diet and exercise, she managed to limit herself to one medication a day — but the REMIT study means she’s been off all medications since the end of May this year.

“I started feeling a lot better off all my medication, and it pushed me even further to do more activity and to be more careful with my food intake.”

Chauvin joined two seniors groups, and makes sure to participate in exercise classes like aquafit and yoga every day.

While the standard treatment for diabetes is to start a single medication and then add more drugs and insulin as the disease progresses, the REMIT study is different. Its patients receive intensive treatment early in their care journey for three months, to try to induce remission. It also includes patients to change their lifestyles through a diet and 30 minutes of daily exercise.

REMIT is being led by the Population Health Research Institute (PHRI), a joint institute of McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences. It follows a PHRI pilot study of early aggressive treatment, that led to up to 40 per cent of participants with Type 2 diabetes to go into remission without the need for medication for at least three months.

Anyone who wants more information about the trial can call 519-646-6100 ext. 65373.