👉 “I have high expectations”, says professor, senior physician, MD. Flemming Pociot (pictured) about the screening program for type 1 diabetes, which has just started at Steno and which he is in charge of.
✔ First-degree relatives of people with type 1 diabetes are offered screening to see if they have autoantibodies against the insulin-producing beta cells.
✔ Flemming Pociot expects that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) will soon approve the use of Teplizumab. The drug, which can postpone type 1 diabetes for two to five years, was approved by the US authorities (FDA) last November.
✔ Persons at risk will possibly be offered vaccination against e.g. coxsackievirus, which is known to be important for the development of type 1 diabetes, assesses Flemming Pociot.
👍 “However, it is important to say that you do not necessarily develop type 1 diabetes, even if you have antibodies”, he emphasizes.
Read the full article in English and Danish here.
