Ulf Hannelius, Sweden

Diamyd Medical AB Management
Born in 1975. PhD in Molecular Biology from Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm and Executive MBA from Stockholm School of Economics. Prior experience from business development in the biotech and medtech industries as well as from academic research in the fields of genetics and molecular biology. Joined Diamyd Medical in 2015, CEO since 2016.

Presenter of 1 Presentation

ORAL PRESENTATION SESSION

NOVEL TREATMENT OF TYPE 1 DIABETES - THE INFLUENCE OF HLA, NUMBER OF DOSES AND ADMINISTRATION ROUTE ON THE EFFECT OF GAD-SPECIFIC IMMUNOTHERAPY

Abstract

Background and Aims

We have previously shown an association between the HLA haplotype DR3-DQ2 and a positive treatment effect of GAD-alum in individuals recently diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. In this study we sought to further investigate the influence of HLA, number of injections and administration route on the clinical effect of GAD/alum treatment.

Methods

We combined individual-level data (n=627) from four placebo controlled randomized clinical trials of both subcutaneous and intralymphatic GAD-alum immunotherapy. We estimated the treatment effect at 15 months from baseline on C-peptide retention, HbA1c, insulin dose and insulin adjusted HbA1c (IDAA1c) using a mixed model repeated measures model including terms for HLA subgroup and number of doses. The effect of administration route was evaluated using a Bayesian model.

Results

A significant treatment effect was seen in individuals carrying HLA DR3-DQ2 (n=313), with the best effect seen in those receiving three-four doses showing an effect ratio of 1.48 (adjusted P<0.0001) on preserving C-peptide compared to 1.21 (p=0.092) for those receiving two doses. A lower HbA1c was also seen in the three-four dose group compared to placebo (-4.74mmol/mol, adjusted P<0.01). Despite using only 1/5 of the dose, there was a 98%, 99%, 71% and 97% probability that three intralymphatic injections were superior to three subcutaneous injections for C-peptide retention, HbA1c, insulin dose and IDAA1c, and safety profiles were comparable.

Conclusions

These analyses highlight the importance of genetics, dosing regimen, and administration route in immunotherapeutic treatment of type 1 diabetes and a clinically relevant potential for intralymphatic GAD-alum.

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