Despite the availability of insulin therapy, high risk type 1 diabetes (T1D) remains a potentially life-threatening condition for about 100,000-200,000 people in the U.S. Approximately 10% of individuals living with T1D experience recurrent blood glucose drops low enough to cause cognitive or physical impairment requiring active assistance from another person to help them. These blood glucose drops are called severe hypoglycemic episodes, or SHE, and are associated with hospitalization, seizure, coma, and even death. Islet cell transplantation offers a potential treatment solution, but unfortunately its use has been limited due to the side effects of today’s current standard of care immunosuppression drug, tacrolimus, which is toxic to the islet cells themselves.

Tegoprubart may overcome the barriers that have historically held back the use of islet cell transplantation for T1D care. Its targeted approach of CD40L blockade has the potential to improve islet cell graft survival regardless of cell source and be safer for patients, reducing the side effects associated with standard of care, tacrolimus-based regimens.