Researchers have identified a compound that shows promise in animal studies of becoming the first effective drug for the prevention of type 1 diabetes, or insulin-dependent diabetes, which afflicts about one million people in the United States and is on the rise worldwide. The synthetic compound, called ISO-1, appears to work by blocking a pathway involved in inflammation. If successful as a vaccine-like drug, it could ultimately save lives, reduce health care costs and help prediabetic people avoid a lifetime of insulin injections, the researchers say. Their work was described today at the 227th national meeting of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society.
