JDRF in New York City has announced a $9 million award in support of a phase 3 clinical trial to address kidney complications in people with type 1 diabetes (T1D).

According to JDRF, almost half of kidney failure cases are caused by diabetes, and an estimated one out of three people with T1D develop significant kidney disease. The award will support a clinical trial to test sotagliflozin, a dual sodium-glucose cotransporter (SGLT)1 and SGLT2 inhibitor, in the treatment of kidney complications in people with T1D. The study will be led by Alessandro Doria (Joslin Diabetes Center), Michael Mauer (University of Minnesota Medical School), and David Cherney (University Health Network, University of Toronto), and will build on the SUGARNSALT research project led by Cherney, which includes support of $1 million each from the Kidney Foundation of Canada and Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

“There are new, highly effective therapies for kidney disease in people with type 2 diabetes and people without any kind of diabetes, but there hasn’t been a new drug approved for kidney disease in type 1 diabetes in decades,” said JDRF director of research Jonathan Rosen. “Therapy development for kidney disease in type 1 diabetes is a high priority for JDRF, and SUGARNSALT is a phenomenal opportunity to rigorously test the efficacy and safety of sotagliflozin, a drug with demonstrated kidney and heart benefits in type 2 diabetes.”

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