September 1, 2023 – The University of Virginia Center for Diabetes Technology is getting a $3.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
UVA says the money will help start large-scale clinical trials on newly diagnosed Type 2 diabetes patients.
“Not only are we trying to improve blood glucose control and psychological functioning, but we’re also in the process of trying to help these people to prevent these long-term nasty complications,” Professor Daniel Joseph Cox with UVA Health said.
Prof. Cox says the clinical trials will test a new method of maintaining blood sugars in patients recently diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.
“It involves helping an individual learn what foods and activities, push their blood glucose up and keep it up. And then choose alternative foods to diminish that blood glucose rise and sustained rise,” Cox said. “So you learn how to control your blood glucose, literally.”
Cox says there are three objectives for these trials: “One is to improve their metabolic control. Two is to put their diabetes in remission, so they go from the status of a person with diabetes to a person without diabetes. And thirdly, we’re looking at the cost effectiveness of this.”
He also says it is important to understand the dangers that come with Type 2 diabetes.