The first new therapy for type 1 diabetes in nearly a century, which works to delay the need for insulin therapy in type 1 diabetes, has been approved for use in Australia by the Therapeutic Goods Administration. 

Tzield (teplizumab) works to preserve beta cell and insulin production, delaying the autoimmune mechanism that drives type 1 diabetes, and could see thousands of Australians able to delay insulin therapy for an average of two years. 

It’s the result of nearly forty years’ of career-defining research from a dedicated team of researchers, and represents a major development for people aged 8+ and living with stage 2, type 1 diabetes.  

The therapy’s arrival in Australia represents a game-changing shift in treatment and management made possible through long-term funding support for critical research. 

Preserving beta cells and insulin, alongside understanding the autoimmune system mechanism, has long been a major goal of diabetes research globally. With this new listing, Australians will have access to cutting-edge medicine that will help thousands of Australians delay insulin therapy. 

Australian Diabetes Alliance member Breakthrough T1D have supported the research that led to this therapy since its inception in the late 1980s, funding a dedicated team of researchers for nearly forty years. 

Tzield will now be available for people living with stage 2 type 1 diabetes, however is not listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).  

More than 145,000 Australians live with type 1 diabetes, with a further 25,000 estimated to be living with early-stage or undiagnosed type 1 diabetes.  

Type 1 diabetes is an auto-immune condition where the body’s own immune system destroys the beta cells in the pancreas which produce insulin.  

We don’t yet know the cause and currently there is no cure.