There are 22 diabetes research consortia that have been launched worldwide since 2001 to advance research efforts in combating diabetes. More than half of the consortia are initiated by government organizations and mainly funded by governments as well. The consortia focus on various areas of diabetes research including biomarker development, data sharing applications, and product development. Many are working to develop new diagnostic biomarkers and treatment methods through cellular-level research while others aim to make insulin pumps and devices more user-friendly.

1. Harnessing the Power of Collaboration:
Diabetes Research
by Allyson Luo, FasterCures Intern,DukeEngageProgram
Harnessing thePowerof Collaboration isa bimonthly seriesanalyzing hottopics,trendsand new
initiatives in the biomedicalR&D ecosystem.Using FasterCures’Consortia-pedia Catalogueasan
information base,thisseries will explore how collaborationshavebeen working to changethenatureof
biomedicalresearch.
Earlierthisyear,BigfootBiomedical’sCEO,JeffreyBrewer(formerCEOof JDRF),revealedthe company’s
automatedinsulindeliverysystem atthe Health2.0 Conference.Unlike otherinsulinpumpscurrentlyon
the marker,BigfootBiomedical’spumpwilluse only asmartphone appasthe system’sinterface.
Patientswill nothave tofiddle withthe pumpitself,asthe systemwill independentlymake basal insulin
adjustmentsasglucose levelschange.The companystrivesfor “human-centered”automation,
emphasizingthatdiabetesmanagementshouldbe tailored aroundthe patient’swayof life.
Thisgroundbreakingapproachtodiabetesmanagement,alongwiththe progress of ViaCyte Inc.’s stem
cell-producedpancreaticislets, representdynamicimprovementsinall fieldsof diabetesresearchand
treatment. Withthe growthof researchand device progressindiabetes,we decidedtotake alookat
FasterCures’Consortia-pediaCataloguetoexploreresearchefforts thatare advancingthe field.

2. Diabetesisawidespread,globalissue. 422 millionpeoplehave diabetesworldwide,and,accordingto
the World HealthOrganization’s2016 diabetescountryprofiles, the UnitedStatesalonemakesup
nearly7 percentof the global diabetespopulation.
Since 2001, 22 diabetesresearchconsortiahave beenlaunchedthroughoutthe world,14of whichare
locatedinEurope.Five more have memberslocatedinmore thanone continent,andonlythree are
locatedinNorthAmerica.
Like manyotherdisease-focusedconsortia, more than half of diabetesconsortiaare initiatedby
governmentorganizations.Nonprofitandacademicorganizationsinitiated three orfourconsortiaeach.
However,despite beinginitiatedbynonprofits oracademia,theseconsortiaare alsomainlyfundedby
governmentorganizations. Forexample, AcceleratingMedicinesPartnership-DiabetesandBetaCell
BiologyConsortium are fundedby the National Institutesof Health,whilethe CoalitionforAccelerating
Standardsand Therapies isfundedbyFoodand Drug Administration grants.Industryandthird-party
organizationshave initiated only one diabetes-focusedconsortiumeach.
Amongdiabetesconsortia,thereisheightenedemphasisonbiomarkerdevelopment,as10 of the 22
consortiaare engagedinbiomarkerresearch, formostlydiagnosticpurposes.Thisfocusondiagnostic
biomarkerresearchcouldbe because bothtypesof diabetescanoccur inboth adultsandchildren,
rejectingthe traditionalparadigmof type 2 onlyoccurringinadultsand type 1 onlyoccurringin children.
The onsetof eithertype of diabetescanvaryconsiderably betweenchildrenandadults,typicallycausing
true diagnosistooccur onlywhensymptomsare obviousoradvanced.

3. Many consortiaare alsoinvolvedindata-sharingapplications,while onlyafew are involvedinproduct
development. Productdevelopmentfordiabetesmanagement hasbeenprogressingoverthe past
decade,rangingfromDPP4 inhibitorstoartificial pancreases.The few consortiainvolvedinproduct
developmentare specifically workingtomake insulinpumpsmore user-friendlyandpatient-centric.
SPIDIMAN,forexample,isfocusingondevelopingaglucose-sensitivefluorescentdye tocoatan insulin
catheterand incorporatingthe glucose sensorintoasingle-portartificialpancreassystem.
There are a greaternumberof consortiathat specializeintype 2over type 1 diabetes. The 10 consortia
that focuson bothtypesof diabetesseemtoemphasize cellular-levelresearchtodevelopnew
treatmentmethods. BetaBataimstounderstandthe complex molecularmechanismsthat cause cellular
dysfunctionindiabetestodevelopinterventional therapiesthatmaintainthe integrityof betaandBAT
cell function.The GPCRConsortium isdata-centric,aimingtoadvance researchonthe G-proteincoupled
receptorfordrug development. IMIDIA aimstoincrease knowledge of humanbeta-cell functionto
improve industrialcompetitivenessandpublichealthinEurope. The consortiathatfocusspecifically on
type 1 diabetesare more engagedindata-sharingandtool development.
The EuropeanMedical InformationFramework isworkingtocreate a commoninformationframework
to linkandfacilitate accesstodiverse medicalandresearchdatasources.Noconsortiumthatspecializes
intype 1 diabetesispursuingproductdevelopment.The consortiathatare engaged intype 2 diabetes
researchare heavilyfocusedondiagnosticbiomarkerdevelopment.
To findoutmore aboutthe consortiacurrentlyfocusingondiabetes’sresearch,please visit
http://consortiapedia.fastercures.org/
 AcceleratingMedicinesPartnership-Diabetes
 Artificial PancreasProjectConsortium(APPC)
 Beta Cell BiologyConsortium(BCBC)
 CoalitionforAcceleratingStandardsandTherapies(CFAST)
 Developmentof novel treatmentstrategiesbasedonknowledge of cellulardysfunctionin
diabetes(BetaBat)
 DiabetesCell TherapyInitiative(DCTI)
 DiabetesGeneticsReplicationandMeta-Analysis(DIAGRAM) Consortium
 DiabetesResearchonPatientStratification(DIRECT)
 EPIGEN
 EuropeanMedical InformationFramework(EMIF)
 Fatty LiverInhibitionof Progression
 GPCR Consortium
 GreenPark Collaborative
 Identificationof newtypesof biomarkersandtracersforthe invivomolecularimagingof the
pancreaticBeta-cell mass(KeyMarker)
 IMIDIA
 PREDICCt
 SafetyEvaluationsof AdverseReactionsinDiabetes(SAFEGUARD)
 Singapore DiabetesConsortium
 Single-PortInsulinInfusionforImprovedDiabetesManagement(SPIDIMAN)

4.  Stringof PearlsInstitute (PSI)
 Surrogate markersfor Micro- and Macrovascular hard endpointsforInnovative diabetesTools
(SUMMIT)
 Type 2 DiabetesGeneticExploration byNext-generationsequencinginmulti-EthnicSamples
(T2D-GENES)