NHS Approves Drug to Delay Type 1 Diabetes Onset in England and Wales

The first drug approved to delay the onset of type 1 diabetes is now available on the NHS in England and Wales. Teplizumab is a form of immunotherapy that can give patients three extra years before symptoms develop and lifelong insulin treatment is required. The NHS medicines body called the decision genuinely exciting.

Hundreds of children and young people are likely to benefit each year. The most common age of diagnosis for type 1 diabetes is in early teenage years. Teplizumab must be given as an infusion before symptoms appear.

Patients require a prior blood test showing the immune system has begun attacking the pancreas. Routine testing for type 1 diabetes is not yet available on the NHS. Dima Boichak from Newbury in Berkshire was nine when a UK-wide research study showed he was highly likely to develop the disease.

He became one of the first patients in the UK to receive teplizumab on compassionate grounds. The treatment was administered once a day for 14 consecutive days via intravenous infusion in hospital. The published price of teplizumab is around £150,000 per course.

The NHS negotiated a confidential discount with drugmaker Sanofi. NICE estimates that around 1,100 adults and children could be eligible in the first year and around 820 per year in the longer term once the initial backlog clears. Helen Knight, director of medicines evaluation at NICE, said the recommendation gives people diagnosed at an early stage precious extra time before they need to manage the full demands of the condition.

Karen Addington, chief executive of Breakthrough T1D, said the treatment can help give families more years without the daily burden of managing the condition. NICE guidance does not automatically apply in Northern Ireland. The Scottish Medicines Consortium expects to issue advice for teplizumab in early 2027.