Month: April 2025

May is Mental Health Awareness month, a national movement to raise awareness of the importance of mental health and the structural gaps that exist in accessing treatment and support. 

Mental health is central to living well with type 1 diabetes (T1D). This is why, in 2021, Breakthrough T1D Canada launched its Mental Health Strategy, with the goal of better supporting mental health in people with T1D, while we continue to support research towards cures.

T1D affects a person’s emotional, social, and mental wellbeing throughout their lifetime, known collectively as psychosocial health. Psychosocial challenges can negatively impact diabetes outcomes like glycemia. Many people with T1D experience “diabetes distress” – a term describing the powerlessness, stress, guilt, relentless worry and denial that accompanies living with diabetes and the burden of self-care. In addition, people with T1D are at higher risk of mental health disorders including depression, anxiety and disordered eating. These challenges are common in people with T1D and can be treated – but they are often underappreciated or undertreated because of gaps in care and support.

To better address these areas of need, Breakthrough T1D outlined a three-pronged approach to its Mental Health Strategy: 1) knowledge generation through new research, 2) a new training program for mental health providers, and 3) development of new community supports. Since 2021 when we laid the foundations of this strategy, we have driven substantial progress in all three key areas, thanks to the generous support of donors, as well as partnerships with academia, other diabetes organizations, and community collaborators.

We are pleased to share the updates to this program that have taken place in the past year.

Research Update

Since the launch of our mental health strategy in 2021, we have invested $5 million in new research focused on T1D and psychosocial health, together with partners including Brain Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), and Michael Smith-Health Research BC.

This includes funds from Breakthrough T1D Canada, Brain Canada, CIHR, and MSFHR

9 awards total:

• 3 with Brain Canada
• 4 with CIHR
• 1 impact award (BT1D only)
• 1 partnered award to Dr. Tricia Tang (Michael Smith-Health Research BC)

All the new research funded is still in progress. In line with our global research strategy in this area to build programs that are designed to scale up and ultimately help larger numbers of people, many of the projects we are supporting involve development and testing of digital interventions. For example, Dr. Tricia Tang and her team at the University of British Columbia (UBC) carried out a clinical study of their virtual peer support platform called REACHOUT. This platform uses a mobile app to deliver peer-led mental health support by trained mentors to adults living with T1D in rural and remote regions of BC. The trial assessed the effects of virtual peer support on outcomes including diabetes distress, quality of life, and HbA1c. Future work will focus on iterative improvement of the REACHOUT platform and scaling up the reach of trained mentors so that more people with T1D can be supported.

Other studies that are leveraging digital technologies to engage people with T1D across Canada include that of Dr. Deborah Da Costa at McGill University, whose study is testing how best to support the mental health and wellness of women with diabetes during pregnancy, and that of Dr. Holly Witteman from the University of Laval, who is developing a network of virtual peer support for people with T1D with specific needs and interests.

Other Breakthrough T1D-supported research is focused on improving outcomes around the transition from pediatric to adult care, a life stage when many youth stop seeing their endocrinologist, which can lead to challenges such as rising HbA1c, isolation, stigma, and eating disorders. Dr. Sonia Butalia at the University of Calgary is carrying out a clinical trial of a system designed to improve this transition, which saw improved blood glucose levels among those involved in the program’s initial pilot in Calgary. In the latest trial funded by Breakthrough T1D and CIHR, the program, which consists of a transition coordinator and carefully designed communications, is being scaled to other Alberta Health Services (AHS) sites in Calgary, Edmonton, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, and Red Deer.

 These clinics and community partners are very keen on the team’s transition work, and AHS has approved the budget for this project to be sustained past the life of the grant. Translation of this work would mean that this demographic of people living with T1D will no longer fall through the cracks during the transition from pediatric to adult care.   

“My son Luke has lived with T1D since he was 5 years old, and now he is a teenager. It has been a big challenge for him and our whole family, and though Luke is well-supported, in large part due to his involvement with Breakthrough T1D, adolescence and early adulthood bring a whole new set of challenges. I am so glad Dr. Butalia and her team are implementing a model of transition-age care that hopefully will be able to help Luke in a couple of years. It’s great to see this vital research being scaled across Alberta and ideally expanded across the country.” -Ryan MacDonald, Calgary, Breakthrough T1D Campaign to Accelerate Co-Chair.    
 
Mental Health + Diabetes Training Program 

Many people with T1D face mental health challenges that require the support of a registered mental health provider – ideally one who understands the unique mental health challenges posed by diabetes. To help inform Canadian mental health providers about diabetes, Breakthrough T1D launched the Mental Health + Diabetes Training Program in early 2023, in collaboration with Diabetes Canada.

This fully bilingual course is offered virtually as two streams: one for registered Canadian mental health providers (which includes a live facilitated session focused on clinical competencies), and one for other healthcare providers and the public that consists only of self-guided modules. The course is delivered at no cost, provides 10 Continuing Education credits for selected providers, and has been approved by the Canadian Psychological Association as well as other associations.

As of May 2025, over 500 mental health providers have completed the program thus far, and over 1000 others (other types of healthcare providers, or members of the T1D community) have enrolled in the training. Early outcomes of the training program’s impact have recently been published as a peer-reviewed paper in the Canadian Journal of Diabetes. An additional evaluation study is in progress that will assess the impact of the program on trainees’ clinical practice. 

Development of Community Supports

The T1D community is diverse and includes many subgroups with varying psychosocial needs and challenges. Towards meeting this need, in the first three years of our strategy, we strove to develop community supports through several different activities, with the help of our dedicated Mental Health Advisory Council—a group of >100 volunteers with diverse lived experience of T1D. In the past year, we continued to expand our sources of community support in a number of ways.

First, we delivered several virtual events to engage and educate our community:

• Over 500 individuals attended our Breakthrough T1D Education Series – T1D and Mental Health sessions in May 2024 (in English and French).  
• Nearly 200 healthcare providers attended sessions on T1D and eating disorders (in English and French) hosted in collaboration with the National Eating Disorder Information Centre (NEDIC). These webinars helped increase dialogue and learning opportunities for healthcare providers and others.  
• Over 500 people attended our Breakthrough T1D Education Series – Disordered Eating and T1D. These bilingual events featured speakers from NEDIC, ANEB (Anorexie et boulimie Québec), and people with lived experience and explored the realities and challenges of managing T1D-related eating disorders. By fostering dialogue on this underappreciated topic, we hope to see eating disorders recognized and treated more effectively, leading to better care and outcomes for those impacted. 

Second, we expanded our Directory of mental health providers who have been trained in diabetes through our new training program, as a resource for people with diabetes or healthcare teams to connect with a mental health provider with knowledge of their disease. As of May 2025, we list >180 providers from across Canada and anticipate that listings will grow over time as more providers are trained.

Third, we monitored progress and facilitated the success of projects funded through our inaugural Mental Health and T1D Community Grants program, a mechanism to catalyze the efforts of other organizations to develop new community-facing programs designed to support and improve mental health and wellness in the T1D community. The first grants awarded through this program are progressing well through their 18-month term, and updates will be provided upon their conclusion in late 2025.

Finally, we are pleased to share a new video series to share stories from our community: Beyond the Numbers: Real stories of navigating mental health with T1D. We will be sharing these videos throughout Mental Health Awareness Month and beyond, to help normalize the psychosocial problems, solutions, and wins that are part of daily life with T1D. Featuring 20 videos, this series addresses themes of Relationships and Social Support, Life Transitions, and Coping and Resilience.

Thank you to our community

Breakthrough T1D Canada remains enormously grateful for the support of our Mental Health Advisory Council, lead volunteers and philanthropic partners, including funding partners Brain Canada and Diabetes Canada, without whom our progress in this area would not be possible.

For more information on mental health supports, please visit the Directory at directory.breakthroughT1D.ca or our mental health resources page.

T1D community resources & events 
Web resources and blogs 

• Mental Health webpage 
• Breakthrough T1D peer support 
• Stigma and T1D  
• Hunt family inspires new mental health fund 
• Beyond the Numbers: Real stories of navigating mental health with T1D 
• Christine’s story of resilience and hope 

To mark the start of Mental Health Awareness Month, Breakthrough T1D Canada is excited to launch its new video series Beyond the Numbers: Real stories of navigating mental health with T1D that focuses on sharing the real stories of people living with type 1 diabetes (T1D).

The idea for the video series began in October 2023, when Breakthrough T1D was approached by multidisciplinary artists Michael Pivar and Peter Dreimanis with a vision: to capture real stories from people living with type 1 diabetes, exploring how T1D affects their mental health and emotional well-being. The concept was compelling—intimate interviews that didn’t shy away from the harder conversations, and that focused on lived experience, not clinical advice.

At the same time, Breakthrough T1D had just wrapped up a round of focus groups with Breakthrough T1D’s Mental Health Advisory Council who indicated that adults living with T1D were interested in video content from “people like them” about the day-to-day mental health/wellness concerns related to T1D.

Based on their feedback, three themes for this video series were identified:

• Relationships and Social Support 
• Life Transitions 
• Coping and Resilience 

Over the course of a year, five adults, Christine, Lujane, Meagan, Rodrigo, and Tracey—were interviewed. Their conversations touch on stigma, including changing the conversation around diabetes devices, disordered eating and diabulimia, relationship challenges, being diagnosed in adulthood, and their own personal coping strategies.

Each person shared openly and with vulnerability, with the hope that their stories might help others feel less alone. The goal was to normalize conversations around the mental health impacts of T1D and to shine a light on the emotional side of this often invisible illness—because the challenges are real, and deserve to be acknowledged.

Breakthrough T1D is extremely grateful to Christine, Lujane, Meagan, Rodrigo, and Tracey for their openness and willingness to share. We would also like to extend our heartfelt thanks to Mike Pivar and Peter Dreimanis—without their creativity, dedication, and care, this project would not have been possible.

We hope that Beyond the Numbers not only sparks connection and empathy, but also inspires future dialogue—at home, in healthcare settings, and across the wider community.

You can watch their stories here.

For further resources, please visit the Directory where you can find mental health providers with specialized training in diabetes at directory.breakthroughT1D.ca or our mental health resources page.

National Volunteer Week takes place from April 27 – May 3, 2025, as organizations across the country celebrate those who generously donate their time and talents to their communities and for causes close to their heart. 

The National Volunteer Week theme for 2025 is Volunteers Make Waves. In the words of Volunteer Canada this theme:  Highlights the power, impact and importance of individual and collective volunteer efforts across Canada. Like a wave, volunteering is movement building.

Water is in constant motion, always flowing, shifting, and transforming with every powerful wave or quiet ripple. And so is each volunteer’s contribution toward creating impact in our communities.

Each individual volunteer contribution, big or small, creates momentum and has the power to influence and inspire, joining a wave of positive change.

This theme resonates throughout the story of Breakthrough T1D. We were founded by a group of devoted parents determined to find a cure for their children living with type 1 diabetes (T1D), and through their contributions, momentum continued to grow, creating tremendous progress in improving everyday life with T1d and bringing us ever closer to cures for this disease.

For the past three years, it has been our honour and privilege to celebrate our amazing volunteers and their support of the T1D community through our Annual Volunteer Awards.

In 2024 we were thrilled to recognize individuals, volunteer committees and corporate organizations who have demonstrated incredible commitment, devotion and heart in supporting our collective goal of a world one day free from T1D.

Our volunteers are the foundation of everything we do, and we are thrilled to share with you the 2024 Breakthrough T1D Canada Volunteer Award Winners.

Congratulations to all our Award Winners. To read more about them, please visit: https://www.flipsnack.com/jdrfaccelerate/nvw_2025_flipsnack_en/full-view.html

2024 Breakthrough T1D Canada Volunteer Awards

From years of burdensome insulin injections to the insulin pump that saved her life.

Lynn Cameron is a passionate advocate at Breakthrough T1D, fiercely pursuing positive change for Quebec’s type 1 diabetes (T1D) community, which desperately requires public coverage of T1D devices. Lynn has lived with this autoimmune disease for nearly 60 years, many of which she endured without access to the advanced technology she needed to thrive. Over the past five decades in her T1D journey, she has overcome countless obstacles, compounded by the burden of self-advocacy for the care she deserves.

Lynn is 63 years old, and due to Quebec’s age restriction on its public coverage (only available to those who enroll in the program under age 18 and are then covered for life), she and over 40,000 adults in her province do not qualify. This creates inequity among Quebecers living with T1D merely based on their age of diagnosis. No individual living with T1D should suffer because of their age or geographical location. That’s why Lynn continues to stand up for all those living with T1D, determined to ensure no one else goes through what she has. She hopes her story can help others and inspire critical change.

Lynn doesn’t remember life before type 1 diabetes. “It’s been so many years; I don’t count anymore. I don’t remember not being diabetic. I was young. The only thing I remember was the first insulin shot my father gave me,” she says.

In 1967, at the time of Lynn’s diagnosis, diabetes technology and care were vastly different than they are today. Insulin syringes were only available in whole-unit increments rather than half-units. This meant less control over how much insulin she could administer, leading to increased blood glucose fluctuations. The insulins also kept changing, and Lynn says she was allergic to one which is no longer on the market today. Dieticians were not part of diabetes care, even though carb counting and knowing how different foods impact blood glucose are essential for T1D management. All these factors made life with T1D difficult for Lynn.

“When I was diagnosed, I was told that you have to be careful about what you eat and have to be active and do everything correctly,” Lynn says, “I was always up and down [blood glucose levels], and it was not because I was not doing or watching what I was supposed to do.”

These challenges fluctuated over the years, after a difficult childhood, adjusting to life with T1D and undergoing heart surgery at the age of 10. As an adult, Lynn relished any opportunity to be active outdoors until diabetes complications started taking a toll on her health.

In 2012, Lynn began trying to get an insulin pump to improve her quality of life after enduring multiple daily injections (MDI) for 45 years. She tried hard to convince the RAMQ, Quebec’s government health insurance board, to cover pumps. It wasn’t until 2021, after nine years of self-advocating, that Lynn finally received her insulin pump, covered until December 2025—not by her own government but by donors to a hospital foundation.

“When I got the insulin pump, things did change so much, and I got better,” Lynn says. Since being on the insulin pump, her blood glucose levels have improved significantly.

Recently, this technology also allowed her to receive a second heart surgery, without which she would not be alive today. Doctors don’t always allow patients to wear insulin pumps during surgery, making this a significant step in diabetes care in Quebec. After waking up from the operation, Lynn was shocked to see her blood glucose stable. She asked the doctor what he did, and he said that the insulin pump, her external organ, did all the work. “That was a gift of life,” Lynn says, “because if I wouldn’t have been on the insulin pump, they wouldn’t have operated, and I wouldn’t be here.”

This is why advocating for access to life-saving devices is so close to Lynn’s heart. She says, “It’s 2025; it shouldn’t be like this. That’s why I’m doing what I can to work with Percée DT1 [Breakthrough T1D] and giving my time because of their mission. I think that insulin pumps will be temporary for about 10 years, and then probably there’s going to be a cure.”

Lynn’s incredible efforts include meeting with elected Members of the National Assembly (MNAs) of the official opposition in Quebec to share her story and lobby for adult coverage of insulin pumps for herself—she refuses to return to MDIs when her funding expires—and thousands of other Quebecers. She communicated the burden of MDIs, such as requiring 21 needles every three days compared to one with the pump, and the increase in daily decisions, which can lead to more errors in T1D management. Lynn is voicing her right to live, letting the province know that this situation undermines her integrity and dignity. She also supported Breakthrough T1D’s letter-writing campaign, helping acquire signatures of support from local MNAs.

Lynn’s resilience, tenacity, and dedication to her community are inspiring. She hopes sharing her story and advocating for better coverage will help others living with T1D.

Breakthrough T1D donor funding has contributed to nearly every major T1D advancement in the last 50-plus years. Generous leadership donors who invest in our $100M Campaign to Accelerate help ensure future T1D discoveries while advancing vital efforts, like Lynn’s, to improve care for all those living with T1D.

To learn about how you can become part of this invaluable community of philanthropists driving impact for the T1D community, please contact:

Kim Lacombe 
Vice President, Philanthropy
klacombe@breakthroughT1D.ca
438-814-1668

There is much uncertainty in the world right now, with changes coming so frequently it can feel hard to stay completely informed.

However, Breakthrough T1D Canada can offer certainty that our Canadian-funded researchers are making incredible progress and breakthroughs in T1D research.

Now, more than ever, research is progressing at incredible speed, we can keep that momentum going here in Canada and continue investing in the scientific discoveries that will bring us closer to cures for T1D.

We know there will be questions about how these changes will affect the T1D community going forward, including concerns about potential disruptions to insulin deliveries, devices and other diabetes supplies. Please be assured that we are working hard to gather information as it becomes available, and that we will continue to be transparent and update the community as we learn more.

It’s been said that any challenge can also be an opportunity, and we are taking that approach at Breakthrough T1D Canada.

We have world-renowned T1D researchers working right here in Canada. Canada is where insulin and stem cells were discovered, and where the Edmonton Protocol was developed. And this is why we believe that a made in Canada cure for T1D can be discovered right here too.

We’re the largest charitable funder of T1D research in Canada, and every year thanks to donors, we’re able to give transformational grant funding to the projects that will deliver high impact rather than dispersing funds in small amounts amongst hundreds of small projects.

We work hard to honour those who choose to make investments in this research, by making donor dollars go further by leveraging them against existing partnerships we have such as the Breakthrough T1D-CIHR Partnership to Defeat Diabetes, and our partnerships with Brain Canada and Stem Cell Network Canada (SCN).

Our organization has played a role in nearly every major scientific breakthrough in T1D research in the last 50-plus years, giving us an incredible track record of success.

And we know none of this can happen without the support of our advocates and volunteers. That is why we advocate with the Canadian T1D community to all levels of government for equitable access to treatments and devices, research funding, health regulatory approvals, and more. During this federal election year, we are doubling down on these efforts, with volunteer advocates nationwide championing our shared mission with their local MPs through in-person meetings, letter-writing and social media campaigns.

Since 2019, our Access for All campaign has been advocating provincial governments for more equitable access to diabetes devices including insulins, insulin pumps and technologies like advanced glucose monitors. .

You can see the most up-to-date information on coverage here: https://breakthrought1d.ca/advocacy/access-for-all/coverage-map/

The Results of Our Research Funding

The results of how we invest donor dollars, and the impact of those investments speak for themselves:

Edmonton Protocol

• Dr. James Shapiro (Alberta) led the clinical team who developed the groundbreaking “Edmonton Protocol” for successful islet transplantation, first reported in 2000 and supported by Breakthrough T1D (formerly JDRF). Canada is one of the few countries in the world where clinical islet transplantation is available outside of a research setting.

Disease Modifying Therapies

• We invest in research around disease-modifying therapies – therapies that slow or stop the disease, rather than just treating the symptoms.
  • For example, Dr. Jan Dutz (BC) is leading a clinical trial to test whether a biologic drug called ustekinumab (known on the market as Stelara) in adults with newly diagnosed with T1D can protect insulin-producing beta cells, stopping T1D in its tracks.
  • Breakthrough T1D donors contributed to research into the development of Tzield, the first disease-modifying therapy approved for T1D in the USA.

Beta-Cell Replacement

• In the early 2000s, Breakthrough T1D started making substantial investments into beta cell replacement research to help the field develop approaches to replace insulin-producing cells lost in people with T1D.
• Dr. Timothy Kieffer (British Columbia) was one of the first researchers in the world to show in 2014 that human stem cells can be differentiated into glucose-responsive insulin-producing cells. The procedure these researchers developed set the stage for clinical trials now in progress.
• Advancements in stem cell-based therapies for T1D are continuing here in Canada. Vertex trials have thus far reported reduced insulin requirements in several trial participants, including three who are off insulin entirely, and no safety concerns.

By the Numbers

• Breakthrough T1D Canada is committed to driving research excellence forward for everyone, everywhere living with T1D:
• 70 active research grants in Canada
• 10 Breakthrough T1D-funded clinical trials active in Canada
• $10M to T1D research in Canada in 2024
• Approximately 500 mental health providers completed our Mental Health + Diabetes training program to improve access to these services for people living with T1D

We know that research works

The transformational breakthroughs Breakthrough T1D has helped fund—including diagnostics, medications and devices—are now helping people with T1D live longer, healthier lives. In the last 50 years of progress, 25 years have been added to the lifespan of a person receiving the latest care in Canada.

Together with our Canadian T1D community, we will remain strong

Canada continues to play a leading role in changing the landscape of T1D research, globally. We want to continue to shine the spotlight on Canadian-led research and our advocacy work to make sure those living with T1D are not forgotten or left behind.

We are incredibly grateful to our donors who continue to support this critical work in these uncertain times. It is crucial that we remain steadfast in our investment in groundbreaking Canadian T1D research today and ensure the pace of progress isn’t slowed down.

We are all in this together.

Dr. Mahla Poudineh (University of Waterloo), in collaboration with Dr. Leyla Soleymani (McMaster University), is developing a wearable continuous ketone monitor, which can indicate a life-threatening condition called diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). This device combines novel biology (ketone measurement) with novel engineering (hydrogel microneedles) to produce a groundbreaking new device – the Wearable Aptalyzer.

Biology: Similar to a continuous glucose monitor (CGM), this device will detect biomarkers from the interstitial fluid under the skin. Dr. Poudineh and her team are calibrating the device to recognize and measure real-time ketone levels, something that can currently only be done using urine testing.

Engineering: Dr. Poudineh’s one-centimeter patch provides a wearable solution that enables real-time continuous biomarker monitoring without the discomfort associated with current canula insertion methods. Her patented patch consists of 100 hydrogel “soft microneedles” placed on the skin like a bandage. The microneedles push into the skin just a few millimeters which allows them to touch interstitial fluid and swell to increase surface area.  

Together, Dr. Poudineh and Dr. Soleymani have created a company – Aptec – to commercialize this technology and bring it to those living with T1D.

Dr. Poudineh’s microneedle patch

New Grant: We are excited to announce a second Breakthrough T1D grant for this dynamic team that will expand their work to develop a continuous insulin monitor via the same methods. This would allow people with T1D to have real-time measures of insulin in their system, often known as “insulin on board”, and better adjust against upcoming meals or activities.

Watch here to learn more:  https://www.linkedin.com/posts/uwaterloo_painless-diabetes-patch-to-replace-needle-activity-7306675563232907265-l1BV?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAA2JPFsBifZfTB213DnRbGd_UixBgd0NReg

Breakthrough T1D Canada congratulates Drs. Poudineh and Soleymani on their recent achievements.

Dr. Mahla Poudineh is making big waves in the medical devices field and was recently named a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Health Monitoring BioNano Devices.

Dr. Leyla Soleymani holds a Canada Research Chair in Miniaturized Biomedical Devices and was recently awarded the prestigious Dorothy Killam Fellowship.

Their work will help significantly improve daily living with T1D, while we work towards cures.

A large area of cure-based T1D research is investigating stem cell-based therapy. The goal of this approach is to use stem cells as a renewable source of insulin-producing cells which, when transplanted, would replace beta cells that are destroyed in a person with T1D, thereby allowing them to produce insulin again. This would lessen or eliminate the amount of external insulin required by someone living with T1D (either by injection, pen, or pump) for months or even decades. 

Vertex had two active clinical trials for type 1 diabetes cell therapy: VX-880 (FORWARD) and VX-264 (UPWARD). On Friday, Vertex published a press release with updates on its type 1 diabetes (T1D) products.  

After review, Vertex will not be moving forward with the clinical development program for VX-264. VX-264 was Vertex’s encapsulated islet cell therapy that does not require immunosuppressive drugs. And while it was generally safe and well-tolerated in clinical trials, it did not meet the efficacy endpoint as measured by C-peptide, a biomarker for insulin levels. What this means is that implanted cells were not producing enough insulin to warrant moving forward with further trials. Currently, C-peptide is our best measurement for determining if insulin is being produced in humans. 

In VX-264, the insulin-producing cells were placed in a protective device and then implanted into the body. Analysis of the encapsulation devices is ongoing and may inform future strategies and approaches. 

The VX-880 product has been renamed to zimislecel.  This trial is continuing as planned, and regulatory submission is expected in 2026. The Phase 1/2/3 pivotal trial for zimislecel is continuing and on schedule for enrollment and dosing. Zimislecel is Vertex’s cell therapy for individuals with severe hypoglycemic (low blood glucose) events. It requires the use of immunosuppressives. 

Results from the ongoing trial with VX-880 have demonstrated promising efficacy and safety in all people who received the treatment. Vertex has been working closely with regulators around the world to prepare for submission and is expanding its manufacturing and commercial capabilities to ensure they are prepared for the launch of the drug. 

Vertex remains committed to pursuing therapies that could provide “transformational benefits” to the T1D community and is looking at other ways to keep cells safe without the use of standard immunosuppression. These include alternative immunosuppressive regimens, gene-edited hypo-immune manufactured islet cell therapies, and novel devices to encapsulate islet cells.   

There is still currently no manufactured cell therapy that is approved for people with T1D. But it is very encouraging that Vertex is preparing to submit for regulatory approval next calendar year and getting ready for the commercial launch. 

Developing cell therapies that restore insulin production without the use of standard immune suppression is the focus of Breakthrough T1D’s cell therapies portfolio and is a key focus of our funding strategy.  

The discontinuation of VX-264 emphasizes the importance of Breakthrough T1D’s global approach to pursuing multiple strategies to keep cells safe without traditional immune suppression, including those that Vertex is employing. 

What does this mean for Canadians with T1D? 

For cell therapy to be broadly accessible to people with T1D, the cell product needs to both work and function without or with minimal immunosuppressive therapies. Part of the research process is pivoting and adjusting based on results and moving in new directions to achieve the end goal – in this case – cell therapies that are safe, well-tolerated and ideally don’t require immune suppression.  

Breakthrough T1D Canada will continue to monitor results and provide updates as they are made public.