TES
When you're newly
diagnosed, you
cling on to all
news of research
into a cure for
diabetes. You hope that you'll have to
cope for a few years, but then you will
be healed. Then you start to realise that
while there are huge amounts of research
out there, it means resources are spread
thinly, and that medical research and
development (R&D) is a very slow game.
But that's not to say that great gains are
being made, and some of us are now
using drugs and technology that wasn't
imagined (or was only just imagined) a
decade ago.
On 20 May 2014 people with diabetes
talked directly to leaders from medicine,
academia and industry about how
the condition affects their daily lives.
The IMI-JDRF Diabetes Patient Focus
Meeting was held to identify research and
development gaps in the diabetes area
from the perspective of patient needs and
challenges.
The Innovative Medicines Initiative
(IMI) is the world's largest publicprivate
partnership in health - a joint
undertaking between the European
Union and the pharmaceutical industry
association EFPIA. JDRF is the leading
global charity funding Type 1 diabetes
research, currently sponsoring research
in 17 countries. Karen Addington, Chief
Executive of JDRF UK, commented on
the event saying, "Research progress
in Type 1 diabetes has never been
rom statistical analysis
lobe. .
continued over
NEWS
faster than it is today. There are now
tangible opportunities for research to
transform the lives of people affected
by the condition. But it is crucial that
those people are placed at the heart of
the research dialogue. Only by doing this
can we achieve our goal of progressively
removing the impact of the condition from
people's lives, until we achieve a world
without Type 1 diabetes."
IMI's Executive Director Michel
Goldman added, "This meeting will
cover the whole spectrum of diabetes
and go beyond the typical Type 1
and 2 classifications, to explore the
commonalities between the different
metabolic disorders, their causes
and current therapies. The patients'
perspective is an invaluable asset in
scientists' and industry's quest for a cure
for diabetes which is at the core of IMI's
mission."
The IMI-JDRF initiative aims to identify
research & development (R&D) gaps
in the diabetes area from the patient's
perspective. Discussing unmet patients'
needs will help guide decisions on
future research topics on diabetes in IMI
and in JDRF's activities. IMI has already
established a diabetes platform including
three European diabetes projects: IMIDIA,
DIRECT and SUMMIT - working together
on the joint development of novel solutions
for improved disease management. IMI
and JDRF will publish a joint report on the
event's conclusions later in 2014.