I have heard that less than 25% of contributions to JDRF and other organizations actually go towards finding a cure for diabetes. As you know, the disease is disabling and detrimental to those that suffer from the complications. Why is so much emphasis put into treating the disease rather than finding a cure? I no longer make contributions because of this information. If this is not accurate, I would like to have some hope for my son.

I have heard that less than 25% of contributions to JDRF and other organizations actually go towards finding a cure for diabetes. As you know, the disease is disabling and detrimental to those that suffer from the complications. Why is so much emphasis put into treating the disease rather than finding a cure? I no longer make contributions because of this information. If this is not accurate, I would like to have some hope for my son.

We reached out to JDRF for an answer:

Thank you for reaching out with your question about JDRF. We appreciate your concern as the parent of a child with T1D about ongoing efforts to cure the disease, and we’re happy to offer you a response.

JDRF is the only global organization with a strategic research plan to end T1D. Our plan ensures that there will be an ongoing stream of life-changing therapies moving through the research pipeline from development to the marketplace that lessen the impact of T1D until we eliminate the disease from people’s lives completely. Curing T1D is, and always has been, JDRF’s ultimate goal. Until then, JDRF seeks to keep people with T1D healthy and safe and remove some of the substantial burdens that T1D places on their lives.

JDRF provided more than $110 million in funding for T1D research last year alone. Nearly two-thirds of that funding-more than $65 million-was for research to cure the disease (with an additional $8 million in research to prevent T1D). This includes research on encapsulated islets, which, by producing insulin without the need to suppress the immune system, would lead to a functional cure for T1D, and research to restore beta cell function so that they can deliver insulin and are protected from immune attack, which would represent a full biologic cure. These areas of research would produce outcomes such as minimal or no blood sugar testing, no need to administer insulin on a daily basis, no worries about high or low blood sugar events or long-term complications – in other words, the ability to live life without the daily burden of T1D.

The remainder of JDRF’s research funds went toward potentially life-changing research that could transform the way people with T1D live with the disease. This includes research in areas such as preventing and halting the devastating complications of T1D, developing mechanical interventions such as artificial pancreas systems that could restore normal glucose levels and eliminate the fear of most high and low blood sugar emergencies, and smart insulin that could keep blood glucose at a stable level with a single injection that could last for several days.

We welcome you to learn more about JDRF’s plan to turn Type One into Type None and join us in our efforts by visiting www.jdrf.org/theplan. Please feel free to contact me directly if I can answer any more questions.

Aaron Kowalski, Ph.D.
Vice President, Treatment Therapies

JSH