Potential cures and treatments
Therapies aiming to restore endogenous insulin production.
Approaches across cell replacement, immune protection, gene editing, and regeneration — each scored 0–100 against published, category-specific criteria, including insulin independence, durability, immunosuppression burden, and clinical maturity. Every row shows where it sits in the pipeline, when and where it may be available, and the headline result. Expand for the full scorecard and primary sources.
Closest to a functional cure. Lab-grown islet cells infused into the liver — the strongest cure proof of concept yet.
Pipeline
Available
Filing ~2026
Where
US · EU trials
Headline result
83% insulin-free at 1 year
A cure without anti-rejection drugs — unproven. Stem-cell islets gene-edited to be invisible to the immune system — no anti-rejection drugs.
Pipeline
Available
Years away
Where
US (platform)
Headline result
C-peptide 12+ mo, drug-free (n=1)
A real cure, for a lucky few. Islet cells from deceased donors, infused into the liver — the first approved cell therapy for T1D.
Pipeline
Available
Available now
Where
US (FDA 2023)
Headline result
First FDA-approved cell therapy
Promising on paper; mice so far. An implantable, retrievable pouch that shields lab-grown islets from immune attack.
Pipeline
Available
Years away
Where
Lab (mice)
Headline result
100+ days drug-free (in mice)
Drug-free by design; very early. An ultrathin, retrievable film pouch that protects islet cells under the skin.
Pipeline
Available
Years away
Where
US (Phase 1)
Headline result
Non-fibrotic at 4 mo (human explant)
Repeated Bacillus Calmette-Guerin vaccination repurposed as immune/metabolic therapy for established T1D.
Pipeline
Available
Years away
Bold idea, trial halted. CRISPR-cloaked islet cells designed to survive without immunosuppression.
Pipeline
Available
Halted 2025
Where
Discontinued
Headline result
Phase 1 ended early (2025)
A dialysis-like procedure that circulates a person's blood through a device where their immune cells are briefly co-cultured with cord-blood-derived stem cells, then returned — aim
Pipeline
Available
Years away
A clear lesson in what doesn't work yet. Encapsulated stem-cell islets — proved safe drug-free, but the cells did not produce enough insulin.
Pipeline
Available
Discontinued
Headline result
Discontinued, Mar 2025
A macroencapsulation device that addresses encapsulation's classic weakness — oxygen starvation — by building in a refillable oxygen tank that is topped up daily.
Pipeline
Available
Years away
Where
EU · OTHER
First-in-human xenotransplant program using encapsulated neonatal pig islet cells for adults with unstable T1D and repeated severe hypoglycemia despite closed-loop therapy.
Pipeline
Available
Years away
This approach takes a person's own regulatory T cells (Tregs) — the immune cells that normally keep autoimmunity in check — grows them into the billions in a lab, and infuses them
Pipeline
Available
Years away
Regrow your own cells — still in the lab. Drugs that coax the body to regrow its own insulin-producing cells instead of transplanting new ones.
Pipeline
Available
Years away
Where
US (early)
Headline result
4–7× beta-cell growth (in lab)
A one-time gene therapy that turns a person's own thigh muscle into a glucose-responsive insulin factory.
Pipeline
Available
Years away
Where
US
GLP-1 receptor drugs — the semaglutide/tirzepatide family now famous for type 2 diabetes and weight loss — also protect and amplify beta cells in lab models.
Pipeline
Available
Years away
Where
US · UK · EU · CA · AU · JP
Remygen is Diamyd Medical's controlled-release oral form of GABA, a molecule that in lab and animal studies coaxes beta cells to multiply and calms islet inflammation.
Pipeline
Available
Years away
Early-stage; watch this space. Stem-cell-derived islets in an early trial for severe, long-standing T1D.
Pipeline
Available
Years away
Where
China (trial)
Headline result
Phase 1/2a recruiting
An in-the-body gene therapy that aims to regrow insulin-making capacity without any transplant.
Pipeline
Available
Years away
Where
US
A repurposed oral immunomodulator best known as the multiple-sclerosis drug Tecfidera, now being tested in Chinese phase 3 studies to see whether it can preserve C-peptide in adult
Pipeline
Available
On the horizon
A one-time autologous engineered regulatory T-cell therapy made from a person's own blood cells, designed to restore immune tolerance to pancreatic islets in recent-onset T1D.
Pipeline
Available
Years away
A repurposing hypothesis around denosumab, the RANKL-targeting osteoporosis drug, to protect or improve beta-cell function in early T1D.
Pipeline
Available
Years away
Very early; little to show yet. Perinatal-tissue cells infused into the pancreas just after a new diagnosis.
Pipeline
Available
Years away
Where
US (trial)
Headline result
Phase 1/2a recruiting
A first-in-human gene-therapy program using a person's own CD34+ hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells, modified ex vivo with a lentiviral vector to express PD-L1 and re-establis
Pipeline
Available
Years away
A pre-IND stem-cell-derived islet replacement program for insulin-dependent T1D, with NewcelX exploring combination immune protection using Eledon's anti-CD40L antibody tegoprubart
Pipeline
Available
Years away
Allogeneic iPSC-derived pancreatic islet cells being tested in an early exploratory China study for diabetes with hypoglycemia unawareness or severe hypoglycemic events.
Pipeline
Available
Years away
A personalized immune-tolerance vaccine made from a person's own dendritic cells loaded with proinsulin peptide, being tested by City of Hope in a small phase 1 T1D safety/manufact
Pipeline
Available
Years away
Seraxis SR-02 is allogeneic pancreatic endocrine cell clusters grown from a proprietary stem-cell line and implanted into the omentum (the fatty apron in the abdomen), where they a
Pipeline
Available
Years away
Where
US
Scores are a transparent 0–100 weighted average of published criteria — higher means closer to a durable cure for more people. Living with T1D, Preventing and Trials are ranked the same way. Science journalism, not medical advice.