Therapies aiming to restore endogenous insulin production.

Insulin independence in a small early cohort. Stem-cell-derived islets restored insulin production in an early trial; immunosuppression and long-term safety remain major limits.

Years off insulin for some; substantial treatment risks. Islet cells from deceased donors, infused into the liver — the first approved cell therapy for T1D.

Drug-free by design; very early. An ultrathin, retrievable film pouch that protects islet cells under the skin.

Preclinical oxygen support; human benefit unproven. A sealed islet implant that makes its own oxygen, so the protected cells don't suffocate.

Islets that last for years — and drugs that last just as long. A retrievable under-the-skin pouch that keeps donor islets alive for years, with standard anti-rejection drugs.

An old drug in a human body — if it really can be re-dosed. A human version of a T-cell-depleting drug that already works once, built so it can be given again.

The next real shot at drug-free islets — still entirely in mice. Off-the-shelf stem-cell islets edited to dodge T cells, NK cells and antibodies, aiming to need no anti-rejection drugs. No human has been dosed.

A C-peptide signal from five people; regeneration unproven. An oral menin inhibitor with a company-reported C-peptide signal from a very small, uncontrolled trial.

A discontinued combination programme that preserved more C-peptide during a Phase 2 trial, with benefits diminishing after treatment stopped.

Repeated BCG vaccination remains an experimental immune/metabolic approach to T1D.

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.

A macroencapsulation device that addresses encapsulation's classic weakness — oxygen starvation — by building in a refillable oxygen tank that is topped up daily.

Fibrosis solved in monkeys; the cells inside still fade. An alginate capsule laced with a chemokine that repels attacking T cells and recruits protective ones.

First-in-human xenotransplant program using encapsulated neonatal pig islet cells for adults with unstable T1D and repeated severe hypoglycemia despite closed-loop therapy.

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 —…

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…

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.

A pharma retreat rehomed as a startup's flagship. Rodent data only. Bioprinted islet tissue, immune-cloaked and immune-shielded, designed to need no anti-rejection drugs. It has never been in a human — and the assets got here because Novo Nordisk quit.

Her own cells — and immunosuppression. The famous "cured with her own cells" case. She was already on anti-rejection drugs.

GLP-1 receptor drugs — the semaglutide/tirzepatide family now famous for type 2 diabetes and weight loss — are being explored off-label for T1D.

Kill the attackers, don't hide from them — a good idea that has never met a human. Microgels that make attacking T cells self-destruct at the graft site, aiming for tolerance in one spot instead of drugs everywhere.

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.

An oral polyamine-pathway inhibitor being studied to reduce beta-cell stress.

Early-stage; watch this space. Stem-cell-derived islets in an early trial for severe, long-standing T1D.

A short CD154-derived peptide designed to restrain pathogenic CD40 signalling with the aim of avoiding broad immunosuppression.

Real idea, real grants, no human evidence yet. Immune-cloaked stem-cell islets with built-in sensors that report whether the graft is alive. Funded, animal-stage, and a long way from a person.

Promising first recipient, far too early to generalize. One recipient achieved insulin independence on day 110—with immunosuppression and no evidence yet that the result is durable or repeatable.

An oral immune-pathway inhibitor tested soon after T1D diagnosis.

A repurposed oral immunomodulator best known as the multiple-sclerosis drug Tecfidera, now being tested in two recruiting Chinese studies: a randomized phase 3 trial in 90 adults…

An in-the-body gene therapy that aims to regrow insulin-making capacity without any transplant.

Promising idea, first-in-human, and open only to a rare genotype. Your own regulatory T cells, re-engineered to call off the attack on your beta cells.

A repurposing hypothesis around denosumab, the RANKL-targeting osteoporosis drug, to protect or improve beta-cell function in early T1D.

A cure without anti-rejection drugs — unproven. Hypoimmune stem-cell islets designed to avoid immunosuppression; the current candidate remains preclinical.

The IL-17A antibody ixekizumab is being tested for beta-cell preservation after T1D diagnosis.

Very early; little to show yet. Perinatal-tissue cells infused into the pancreas just after a new diagnosis.

Kriya now lists KRIYA.288, an investigational muscle-directed AAV therapy carrying glucokinase to increase glucose-responsive glucose clearance.

A preclinical successor with limited predecessor human evidence. CRISPR-cloaked islet cells designed to survive without immunosuppression. The Phase 1 was terminated, and the successor, CTX213, has not reached humans.

An antigen-specific immune-tolerance candidate in a recruiting Phase 1b/2a trial.

A regulatory T-cell-directed IL-2 biologic in a Phase 2 trial listed as recruiting for recent-onset T1D.

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…

A cautionary tale, not a contender — bought, then buried in silence. Big pharma bought an encapsulation platform, promised a trial in 2024, and has said nothing since.

Very early — but a genuinely different delivery route. iPSC islets grown into a sheet and implanted under the skin, not infused into the liver.

An autologous tolerogenic dendritic-cell injection developed at LUMC, now in a recruiting Dutch Phase 1b for adults with T1D diagnosed within five years.

The most complete answer to immunosuppression anyone has — in mice. It has never reached a human with T1D. Teach the immune system to read the donor as self — then stop the drugs altogether.

An antigen-specific liposome that packages a proinsulin peptide with calcitriol (active vitamin D), being tested in a Queensland Phase 1 trial in adults with stage 3 T1D.

A Japanese first-in-human Phase 1/2a trial of a person's own fat-derived stem cells turned into insulin-producing cells (TUFF-IPC) and placed in the mesentery.

A pre-IND stem-cell-derived islet replacement program for insulin-dependent T1D, which NewcelX plans to pair with Eledon's anti-CD40L antibody tegoprubart in a…

Immunocore’s first autoimmune ImmTAAI molecule: a soluble TCR that binds a pre-proinsulin peptide on HLA-A*02:01 beta cells and delivers local PD-1 agonism.

An early dose-escalation study of donor-derived CD7-targeted CAR-T cells in stage 2 or 3 T1D.

A City of Hope pilot plans to test a person’s own regulatory T cells engineered to target CD6.

An early registered study of engineered red blood cells in recent-onset autoimmune T1D.

A small investigator-led cell-infusion study in adults with autoimmune T1D and residual insulin secretion.

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…

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 small Egyptian research protocol proposes turning a participant’s fat-derived cells into insulin-producing cells.

A kinase-inhibitor repurposing study asks whether sorafenib can preserve insulin production.

Phase 1/2 registered; no human outcomes yet. A registered Phase 1/2 islet-cell program designed for eligible people regardless of blood type; human efficacy remains unproven.