Diabetes drug shows new potential
By Nathan Seppa
A drug currently prescribed for people with type 2 diabetes might also prove useful for individuals who are newly diagnosed with the type 1 form of the disease. Whereas type 2 diabetes typically appears in adulthood, type 1 usually strikes in youth.
In experiments in mice with a disease similar to type 1 diabetes, researchers found that the drug exendin-4 activated idle beta cells in the pancreas. These insulin-making cells are destroyed at the onset of type 1 diabetes in an immune onslaught that ultimately eliminates the body’s capacity to make insulin. But the beta cells don’t all die at once.