Innovators From 17 Countries Vie for $250,000 in Cash and In-Kind Support to Advance Diabetes Care in the 2018 Diabetes Innovation Challenge

BOSTON, March 20, 2018 -- T1D Exchange, a nonprofit research and collaboration organization dedicated to accelerating novel treatments to improve the care of people living with type 1 diabetes (T1D), today announced that 60 academic researchers and early stage companies from around the world have submitted entries for the 2018 Diabetes Innovation Challenge.

Launched in 2016, the Diabetes Innovation Challenge is a world-wide competition to identify, nurture and fast-track innovative scientific and clinical solutions for diabetes.

The 2018 Diabetes Innovation Challenge is presented by T1D Exchange with the generous support of lead sponsors The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust and JDRF, along with the American Diabetes Association and Eli Lilly and Company.

“We are excited to see this level of interest, not only from the United States, but from 16 other countries from across the globe,” said Dana Ball, executive director and co-founder of T1D Exchange. “We see the Diabetes Innovation Challenge as a pivotal strategy to focus the best minds to advance breakthroughs to manage, treat, and perhaps even cure one of the most pressing health issues we face.”

In the U.S. alone more than 30 million people are living with diabetes with a total economic cost of more than $300 billion annually.

“The importance of accelerating new treatment and disease management strategies to improve the quality of life of people with diabetes and reduce the higher risk they face for stroke, heart and kidney disease, blindness and amputations cannot be overstated,” Ball said.

The Diabetes Innovation Challenge will select first, second and third prize winners who will receive a total of $250,000 in cash and in-kind support for their research.

Entries have been received in four research categories that are critical to advancing the care of people with diabetes. These include:

• Automated Insulin Devices (Artificial Pancreas) and related components such as novel glucose sensing, insulin delivery systems, and cellular therapy delivery technologies (5 entries)
• Diagnostics such as novel low-cost tests for research and screening; early diagnosis and prevention; autoantibodies, C-peptide, or other markers such as beta cell death and risk of diabetic complications (21 entries)
• Therapeutics including smart insulins, glucagons, immune-modulating therapies, beta cell regeneration and treatments for diabetic complications (20 entries)
• Technology Design/Disease Management solutions for new and disruptive approaches to the use of information and communication technologies to support diabetes management (15 entries)

Finalists will be announced in early April 2018. As part of the Challenge, each finalist will make a formal, in-person presentation of their proposal to an expert panel of judges at a public event on May 21, 2018, at the Royal Sonesta Boston in Cambridge, MA. Winners will be announced following the presentations.

About T1D Exchange
T1D Exchange is an innovative nonprofit research organization founded on the belief that people affected by T1D need better treatments and better care faster. We put the community of people living with T1D at the center of research that will meaningfully impact their lives. Our integrated model offers researchers access to a large patient community, aggregated clinical, biological, and patient-reported data, and a rich collection of biological samples. Our goal is to leverage our expertise and resources, connect key stakeholders, and link patient insight to all stages of research and development aimed at improving care and quality of life for everyone affected by T1D.

We do this by fostering collaboration and offering a wide-array of resources to the T1D community including a Clinic Network, a Clinic Registry, a robust Biobank, the T1D Discovery Tool, and the GLU patient community with more than 21,000 members.

Contacts
For more information about the 2018 Diabetes Innovation Challenge or T1D Exchange, please contact John Gillespie at (314) 708-9090 [email protected] or Rebecca Parkes, Director of Advancement at (617) 892-6100 [email protected].