Contact:
Tara Burd, 212-479-7524; tburd@jdrf.org

–$150 million, one-year extension of the Special Diabetes Program will allow for the continuation of promising ongoing clinical trials–

Washington, D.C., April 1, 2014 – The U.S. Senate approved legislation last night for a one-year extension of the Special Diabetes Program (SDP)—an initiative that accounts for roughly one-third of all federally funded type 1 diabetes (T1D) research in the United States. The decision comes on the heels of last Thursday’s approval of the legislation by the U.S. House of Representatives, and will extend SDP funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) at the current level of $150 million, as part of the ‘Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014’ (H.R. 4302).

With a one-year renewal, SDP-funded researchers will be able to continue promising clinical trials that are leading to improved therapies and ultimately a cure for T1D. T1D is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks and destroys insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas, rendering millions of Americans dependent on insulin injections and 24/7 vigilance to survive. The SDP has led to groundbreaking discoveries and new treatments that are improving the lives of people with both T1D and type 2 diabetes, demonstrating a strong return on the federal investment.

“JDRF and its volunteers across the nation are working every day to create a world without type 1 diabetes,” says Jeffrey Brewer, president and CEO of JDRF. “The renewal of the Special Diabetes Program continues critical funding momentum for groundbreaking diabetes research—an investment that will not only improve the lives and health of millions of Americans, but will save the U.S. healthcare system billions of dollars in the long run. JDRF is so grateful for our leaders in government, for their understanding of the importance of this initiative and of how crucial it is to continue the support of promising research.”

The next step will be for President Obama to sign the legislation in the coming days.

This latest extension of the SDP, which will run through September 2015, has been a focus of advocacy efforts by JDRF, the largest charitable supporter of T1D research worldwide. Among other research advances, SDP funding has accelerated the development of artificial pancreas technologies, led to the discovery of a drug that can help reverse vision loss in people with diabetic eye disease, and launched a trial to test a therapy with potential to prevent diabetic kidney failure.

For more information about JDRF advocacy efforts and the SDP, please click here.

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About JDRF
JDRF is the leading global organization funding type 1 diabetes (T1D) research.  JDRF’s goal is to progressively remove the impact of T1D from people’s lives until we achieve a world without T1D.  JDRF collaborates with a wide spectrum of partners and is the only organization with the scientific resources, regulatory influence, and a working plan to better treat, prevent, and eventually cure T1D.  As the largest charitable supporter of T1D research, JDRF is currently sponsoring $568 million in scientific research in 17 countries.