Tech Alliance Discovery Series: Prediction and Prevention: A Paradigm Shift in Treating Autoimmune Disease

For over a century, the only treatment for type 1 diabetes (T1D) has been insulin—a lifesaving therapy that addresses symptoms of the disease, but not the root cause. In 2022, the FDA approved the first-ever therapy to target the root cause of an autoimmune disease: teplizumab. Teplizumab can actually delay the onset of T1D for up to 2 years.

This is a paradigm-shifting feat—not just for treating T1D, but all autoimmune diseases. The approval is the result of decades of research from researchers across the world, including Dr. Carla Greenbaum, MD, of Seattle’s Benaroya Research Institute (BRI). Teplizumab is the result of collaboration within BRI and across the globe, and proof that BRI’s ultimate goal is possible: We can change the course of autoimmune diseases before they start.