Each year, approximately 2,000 people, including 1,000 children, are diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in Sweden - one of the highest rates worldwide. While insulin therapy is lifesaving, it also requires intensive daily management, and the disease carries a high risk of complications. Now, thanks to breakthroughs in research, simple blood tests for autoantibodies can help identify individuals with early stages of Type 1 Diabetes before symptoms arise.

"Screening for early markers of Type 1 Diabetes has the potential to transform care by identifying individuals at risk, opening doors to interventions, such as the antigen-specific immunotherapy Diamyd^®, that can alter the course of the disease," says Ulf Hannelius, CEO of Diamyd Medical.

"As our understanding of Type 1 Diabetes progresses, early diagnosis offers a real opportunity to offer an individualized intervention and reduce the severe impact of the disease on children and families," says Gun Forsander, Associate Professor, Sahlgrenska Academy. "Sweden is well-positioned to take a leading role if necessary updates to healthcare policy and regulations are made."

The article also highlights regulatory challenges that limit screening efforts. With other EU countries on the brink of launching country-level programs to identify individuals with early-stage Type 1 Diabetes, the authors argue that Sweden has the infrastructure and scientific capabilities to implement effective nationwide screening if regulatory frameworks and healthcare structures are adapted accordingly.

Link to the article (in Swedish): https://www.gp.se/fd0030c3-c6b2-4d07-87de-e2e21dfba731

About ASSET
The innovation milieu ASSET (AI for Sustainable Prevention of Autoimmunity in the Society) is an industry-healthcare partnership including Mainly AI, Lund University, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Örebro University Hospital, The Swedish National Diabetes Register, Leading Health Care Foundation and Diamyd Medical, project coordinator. The project started in September 2021, has a duration of five years, and is financed by the Swedish innovation agency VINNOVA.

ASSET has three main goals: Predict, Prevent and Implement.

Predict:  evaluate new algorithms based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) to be able to assess the individual risk of developing Type 1 Diabetes (T1D), and the likelihood of responding to different treatments. Data from cohort studies such as TEDDY (The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young), from Diamyd Medical's clinical trials with Diamyd^® and from sources such as the National Diabetes Registry will constitute the initial training dataset for the algorithm. T1D will form the pilot project for the program, but the goal is extending the functionality to other indications including other autoimmune diseases that are strongly linked to T1D such as celiac disease (gluten intolerance) and autoimmune thyroiditis (inflammatory disease of the thyroid gland).

Prevent: ASSET aims to be a test-bed for clinical development, with a pilot trial ongoing testing a precision medicine approach to early stage T1D.

Implement: ASSET will study organizational, economic, and legal prerequisites and consequences of applying the approach as a tool for precision health in the Swedish health care system. The goal is to proactively manage obstacles that can slow down the implementation and spread of the innovations in the healthcare system. 

Website: https://www.asset.healthcare

About Diamyd Medical
Diamyd Medical develops precision medicine therapies for the prevention and treatment of Type 1 Diabetes and LADA (Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults). Diamyd^® is an antigen-specific immunomodulatory therapeutic for the preservation of endogenous insulin production that has been granted Orphan Drug Designation in the U.S. as well as Fast Track Designation by the U.S. FDA for the treatment of Stage 1, 2 and 3 Type 1 Diabetes. DIAGNODE-3, a confirmatory Phase III trial is actively recruiting patients with recent-onset (Stage 3) Type 1 Diabetes at 60 clinics in eight European countries and in the US. Significant results have previously been shown in a large genetically predefined patient group - in a large-scale meta-analysis as well as in the Company's prospective European Phase IIb trial, where Diamyd^® was administered directly into a superficial lymph node in children and young adults with recently diagnosed Type 1 Diabetes. Injections into a superficial lymphnode can be performed in minutes and are intended to optimize the treatment response. A biomanufacturing facility is under development in Umeå, Sweden, for the manufacture of recombinant GAD65 protein, the active ingredient in the antigen-specific immunotherapy Diamyd^®. Diamyd Medical also develops the GABA-based investigational drug Remygen^® as a component in the treatments of metabolic diseases. Diamyd Medical is a major shareholder in the stem cell company NextCell Pharma AB and in the artificial intelligence company MainlyAI AB.

Diamyd Medical's B share is traded on Nasdaq First North Growth Market under the ticker DMYD B. FNCA Sweden AB is the Company's Certified Adviser.