A research team based at the Andalusian Center for Molecular Biology and Regenerative Medicine (CABIMER) in Seville is developing an innovative treatment for type 1 diabetes with the ambitious goal of making the disease “a thing of the past.” The Pancreatic Islet Development and Regeneration Unit (PIDRU), led by Canadian scientist Dr. Benoit Gauthier, is investigating a molecule that activates a nuclear receptor essential for the survival of the pancreas’s insulin-producing beta cells. This dual approach is designed both to modulate the immune response and to regenerate beta cells, and it has already demonstrated promising results in preclinical models.
Although the researchers stress that “much, much more work” remains to be done, their long-term ambition is to transform the therapeutic landscape for type 1 diabetes. Dr. Gauthier estimates that advancing the molecule toward clinical trials will require around €15 million, a team of approximately 100 researchers, and two years of additional work. He hopes that, before the end of his career, significant progress will have been made toward turning diabetes from a lifelong chronic condition into a treatable disease. Today, more than 589 million adults worldwide are living with diabetes, including nearly three million people in Spain, around one million of whom live in Andalusia.
For more information: https://www.lavanguardia.com/vida/20251113/11258556/laboratorio-sevillano-referente-mundial-diabetes-sea-recuerdo-agenciaslv20251113.html
