Human Clinical Trial Reveals Verapamil as an Effective Type 1 Diabetes Therapy

Anath Shalev CREDIT: UAB

Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Comprehensive Diabetes Center for Hyperskeletal Disorders recent onset Type 1 diabetes by promoting the patient's own beta cell function and insulin production

Nature Medicine reveal that regular [Randomized, double dose]

The randomized, double dose -blind, placebo-controlled human trial identified verapamil as a safe, effective, and promising therapy-a groundbreaking finding in the field of dia research.

"The data collected from our clinical trial gives us insights into the future. "said Anath Shalev, MD, director of UAB's Comprehensive Diabetes Center and senior investigator of the trial. "While this research is not an end-all cure for type 1 diabetes, this finding is closer to disease-altering therapies that can enable individuals with type 1 diabetes. production. "

In 2014, Shalev's UAB research lab discovered that verapamil completely reversed Type 1 diabetes in animal models and sought after in a clinical trial, funded by a $ 2.1 million grant from the JDRF . Verapamil has been approved for the treatment of high blood pressure. However, Shalev's research marks the first time that the drug has been tested for type 1 diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes occurs as a result of one's immune system attacking the beta cells in the pancreas that produce insulin to regulate and maintain optimal blood sugar levels. When beta cells are being destroyed, a person's ability to produce insulin declines The UAB Clinical Trial of Patients Takes Verapamil, beta cell function is preserved, enabling the body to produce more of its own insulin. This is the clinical trial participants' reliance on external insulin, which all patients with diabetes mellitus

"At JDRF, we are excited and encouraged by the recent findings of the UAB Comprehensive Diabetes T1D, explains Andrew Rakeman, PhD, badistant vice president of research at JDRF. "We look forward to continuing clinical studies that will build up and confirm these findings, expanding to additional patient populations and guiding how, when and in whom verapamil might have the most impact in T1D."

The verapamil clinical trial monitored 24 patients age 18 to 45, each over the course of one year. Eleven patients received verapamil and 13 received placebo. All clinical trial participants were diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in their trial and continued insulin pump therapy throughout the duration of the study. Researchers monitored the placebo and verapamil groups' total daily dose of insulin, the amount of insulin produced, the percent change in insulin production, and their HbA1C levels. In addition, the number of hypoglycemic events that patients experienced was recorded, and the percent of each patient was recorded in the blood glucose monitoring system.

"Although this is a smaller sample group, "Fernando Ovalle, MD, director of UAB 's Comprehensive Diabetes Clinic and co-principal investigator of the study," said Fernando Ovalle, MD, director of UAB's Comprehensive Diabetes Clinic and co-principal investigator of the study. . "Beyond verapamil with the help of insulin dependence, these findings will impact the quality of life they can have. comorbidities, including heart attack, blindness, kidney disease, and more. "

While this study is specifically designed to address the subject of diabetes, Shalev notes that future long-term studies are Type 1 diabetes population, and individuals with Type 1 diabetes who have been living with and / or diagnosed with the disease. Furthermore, verapamil's effects on type 2 diabetes have not been tested or studied in prospective controlled trials; These two types of diabetes are more likely to be affected by this type of diabetes. However, in mouse models of Type 2 diabetes and in recent epidemiologic studies, the use of the drug has been shown to be more effective than other types of diabetes.

"This trial's results affirm that we are on the right track. This is related to this disease, "Shalev said. "

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