European alliance to overcome diabetes

Today, the European Parliament hosted “European Alliance to Overcome Diabetes”, a high-level event dedicated to advancing strategies to fight type 1 diabetes. The initiative highlighted the need of a unified European effort to enhance early detection and prevention, building on Italy’s groundbreaking model under Law No. 130/2023.

With the claim “Type 1 diabetes is fast, but we can be faster: a call to boost early detection”, the event focused on implementing Europe-wide prevention systems to address a disease that affects 295,000 children and adolescents across the continent, with 31,000 new diagnoses each year, according to the International Diabetes Federation. Italy has led the charge in innovation with the introduction of a national screening program for type 1 diabetes and celiac disease, the first of its kind globally. This initiative has been recognized as a potential blueprint for harmonized European action, fostering collaboration among Member States.

The event, organised with the unconditional support of Sanofi and Revvity, was opened by the speech of Salvatore De Meo, who hosted the event and wished to emphasise the importance of the Italian example in the fight against diabetes: “The introduction of a pan-European screening programme based on the Italian model could not only improve early diagnosis, but also harmonisethe creation of patient registries and develop common monitoring strategies. This opportunity could be a game changer for the continent, where diabetes, and in particular type 1 diabetes, is one of the major health challenges”.

The importance of seizing this opportunity for cooperation between Countries was also stressed by the President of ENVI Committee Antonio Decaro: ‘Promoting cooperation between EU Member States is essential to turn Italian innovation into a scalable and replicable model. Such cooperation would make it possible to address the growing impact of diabetes by creating an integrated network that improves the quality of life of patients and their families, while reducing long-term costs for European healthcare systems.”

The conference featured leading voices from international organizations and companies who underscored the benefits of unified action. Carmen Hurtado Del Pozo, European Research Director at Breakthrough T1D, stated: “Monitoring individuals with a positive test result for T1D autoantibodies is a critical step in proactive diabetes care. It provides an opportunity to reduce complications, support early intervention and empower patients and their families with guidance tailored to their unique needs, paving the way for improved outcomes and future advancements in disease-modifying therapies.”

The occasion reflects the urgency to move beyond national initiatives and build a collective European response, as stated by Chantal Mathieu, Vice President of the European Diabetes Forum and coordinator of the EDENT1FI project: “We are living in the most exciting times when it comes to the prospect of arresting type 1 diabetes. Thanks to growing insights in the nature of the disease and to available biomarkers, autoantibodies, we are now able to diagnose type 1 diabetes before symptoms of diabetes and thus the need to start insulin therapy are present. Now lies in front of us the challenge on how to organize this effort of early detection of type 1 diabetes in our health care systems in Europe. Early detection in the whole general population means, rolling out screening operations targeting children and setting up follow-up systems of those identified with early stagetype 1 diabetes.”

João Raposo, member of the European Board of the International Diabetes Federation, emphasized the urgency for all Member States to ensure early diagnosis of the disease: “A person-centered health system should be able to accommodate changes that are significantly relevant to people. The paradigm of type 1 diabetes diagnosis and tretment has changed dramatically. Countries should quickly adopt policies that reflect this reality. We should not tolerate that children will be diagnosed in acute, life-threatening conditions. Screening for type 1 diabetes should be ‘the new normal’ for Europe, and the world.”

The morning speeches also include those of Alessandro Sorrentino, Global Medical Head Autoimmune T1D, Sanofi General Medicine , and Marika Kase, Business Director Strategic Initiatives Reproductive Health & Newborn Screening Revvity, which enriched the discussion with the perspective of companies and the importance of an intensive public-private partnership.

To underline the importance of the call to action launched during the speeches at the European Parliament, the event was endorsed by leading organizations such as Breakthrough T1D, European Association for the Study of Diabetes, European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes, Foundation of European Nurses in Diabetes, International Diabetes Federation, International Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes, Primary Care Diabetes Europe, Société Francophone du Diabète, European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations and MedTech Europe.