Nijmegen/Netherlands, 1 May 2018 – Within the newly started European research project Hypo-RESOLVE, 23 leading international players from academia, industry and civil society have joined forces to find better solutions to alleviate the burden and consequences of hypoglycaemia in diabetes.
Diabetes is a global pandemic, currently affecting around 60 million people in Europe. Hypoglycaemia is a common and serious complication of diabetes, particularly affecting people with diabetes on insulin therapy. Consisting of very low levels of blood glucose, hypoglycaemia can lead to cognitive decline, cardiovascular events and even death. As much about hypoglycaemia remains unknown, the recently started European research project Hypo-RESOLVE (Hypoglycaemia – Redefining SOLutions for better liVEs) aims to provide researchers and clinicians with more validated data about the condition by:
Calculating the financial cost in European countries.
“Our mission within Hypo-RESOLVE is to provide an evidence-based classification of hypoglycaemia based on secure data from 100 to 150 recently conducted clinical trials,” explained Dr Bastiaan de Galan, coordinator of Hypo-RESOLVE and internist at the department of Internal Medicine, Radboud university medical center, in the Netherlands. “With this statistical power, we will be able to make valid statements about the glucose thresholds below which hypoglycaemia constitutes a great risk for people living with diabetes.”
Dr Stephen Gough, Global Chief Medical Officer at Novo Nordisk in Denmark and Hypo-RESOLVE project leader added: “This consortium brings together world leaders from the field of diabetes to reduce the burden of hypoglycaemia. Hypo-RESOLVE paves the way for further research on glucose-lowering interventions that will serve people living with diabetes, clinicians and healthcare companies.”
“Hypoglycaemia remains the most pressing concern of all individuals living with diabetes, particularly insulin requiring diabetes such as type 1 diabetes,” explains Dr Sanjoy Dutta, JDRF Assistant Vice President, Research & International Partnerships. “JDRF is pleased to be an active leader in this large public-private partnership to represent the voices of people affected with this condition, and to collectively understand the causes of and identify solutions to prevent hypoglycaemia.”
The voices of people living with diabetes will be at the heart of Hypo-RESOLVE, through the establishment of a Patient Advisory Committee. It will ensure that patients’ insights, opinions and wishes are taken into account across all the multiple components of the project.
“Hypoglycaemia presents a huge psychological burden for people with diabetes. We believe that the Patient Advisory Committee will help contribute to a better understanding of the disease’s impact on people with diabetes and ultimately help improve their lives,” said Prof. Nam H. Cho, President of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF). “Through this project, we also hope to strengthen public awareness of hypoglycaemia and diabetes generally.”
Hypo-RESOLVE is supported with funding of € 26.8 million from the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), a joint undertaking of the European Commission and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA), T1D Exchange, JDRF, International Diabetes Federation (IDF), and the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust.
The project will officially kick off its activities with a first meeting in Denmark on May 16-17, 2018.