AMHERST, N.Y. — Dr. Paresh Dandona at the University at Buffalo Jacobs School of Medicine may have discovered a medication that could change the way Type 1 diabetes is treated.
“What I’m talking about right now is far ahead of anyone else in the world in this area today,” Dandona said. “Had I been at Harvard, this would have made massive noise.”
Dandona is the SUNY distinguished professor at the University at Buffalo Jacobs School of Medicine.
His studies have found that treating Type 1 diabetics(who still meet a certain threshold of insulin production) may have a way to reduce their insulin injection amount.
Dandona found that treating these Type 1 diabetics with semaglutide, the drug in products like Ozempic, may drastically reduce or even eliminate their need for injected insulin.
“With all of them, within 6 months, the need for fast acting insulin disappeared,” Dandona said.
There are several types of diabetes:
According to the CDC, the most common and preventable form of diabetes, Type 2, is when your body has insulin, but doesn’t use it well enough to keep blood sugar at normal levels.
Type 1 diabetes is a reaction that stops your body from making insulin altogether, with no prevention or cure.
One of Dr. Dandona’s patients, Ginny Bullock shared her struggles with her Type 1 diagnosis.
A year and half ago, Bullock was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. She lives in Colorado and has never been to Buffalo, but her search for help led her to UB.
“The insulin thing is just really complicated,” Bullock said. “I emailed him, I really didn’t think he’d get back to me. Within 10 mins he got back to me, and I spoke on the phone with him, and he got the process rolling.”
Ever since she started using the semaglutide medication, she no longer needs injections every meal.
The treatment reduced her weekly injections by over 90%, to one dose of the medication and one dose of long-acting insulin.
“I’m extremely grateful, I love him,” Bullock said.
“One of the joys of being a physician is to see your patients doing well,” Dandona said.
He is still researching these effects and encourages other diabetics to reach out to him by emailing him at dandona.diabetes@gmail.com.
