Last week, the T1D community across the US expressed appreciation when an extension of the T1D Special Diabetes Program (SDP) was signed into law, ensuring that research and grant funding would continue. This extension continues the SDP through the end of 2024 and will provide $160 million to T1D research during this calendar year. This is of great significance to the T1D community.

Legislation for the extension was led by Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), co-chairs of the Senate Diabetes Caucus. “Renewal of the Special Diabetes Program will help to accelerate the progress we have made over the past two decades to treat, and one day cure, Type 1 Diabetes,” said Collins last week.

The SDP was established by Congress in 1998 to research prevention and potential cures for type 1 diabetes. Since then, the program has made grants to build a better understanding of T1D, fund preventative measures, develop treatments for diabetic complications, and further cure research. The program has received an annual average allocation of $150 million. Notably, the 2024 extension increases this amount by $10 million.

The money is managed and allocated by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The NIH is the largest government sponsor of T1D research in the US, issuing $202 million to fund T1D-specific research in 2023. The SDP provides the majority of the NIH’s T1D budget and is an indispensable asset to expediting advances in T1D research and, ultimately, a Practical Cure.