- By Kristi Powers
![A little girl checking her sugar level using an at-home tester.](/sites/default/files/styles/scale1600/public/media/22-ahfc-08746_-_helping_friends_and_family_understand_type_1_diabetes_blog-jk-p1-2000x1333.jpg.webp?itok=FmiNxqZc)
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved a new drug to treat Type 1 diabetes and AdventHealth contributed to the large global screening effort that make groundbreaking studies like this possible. Now, AdventHealth is one of a handful of hospital systems approved to distribute this medication.
This breakthrough treatment, called TZIELD, is the first drug that can delay the progression of Type 1 diabetes by up to three years in adults and up to eight years in children. To determine eligibility for the treatment, a simple blood test is performed. If the blood test is positive, then an oral glucose tolerance test is administered to see if the blood glucose is increasing.
![Dr. Casu](/sites/default/files/styles/scale1600/public/media/anna_3101-dark.jpg.webp?itok=P6plElUP)
“For the first time, a disease we thought was inevitable, can now be delayed,” said Anna Casu, MD, associate investigator in Type 1 diabetes research at the AdventHealth Translational Research Institute. “Now there’s a reason for screening for Type 1 diabetes because its burden can be delayed. This innovation drives me to continue our research to uncover a cure.”
The study, leading to TZIELD approval, was conducted by the Type 1 Diabetes TrialNet Consortium, which screened roughly 200,000 participants for Type 1 diabetes. AdventHealth served as a screening site.
Over the last four years, the findings were analyzed, published in the New England Journal of Medicine and then sent to the FDA for approval.
![Konda Reddy, MD](/sites/default/files/styles/scale1600/public/physicians/1790987964_0.jpg.webp?itok=sEUvGABF)
“Diabetes is a disease that never goes away, so a delayed diagnosis with treatment like this drug can have a significant impact on quality of life for the patient and their family,” said Konda M. Reddy, MD, medical director of Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes at AdventHealth for Children. “This is a historic moment for the Type 1 diabetes community. It means there’s more time to live without the burden of the disease and complications.”
Type 1 diabetes is a disease that occurs when the immune system attacks and destroys the cells that make insulin. According to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, some 1.45 million Americans are living with Type 1 diabetes and 64,000 are diagnosed each year in the U.S.
Patients or referring physicians who are interested in starting the screening process, please contact Dr. Reddy’s office at Call407-896-2901.
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