Introduction to the Polish branch of the INNODIA program

Abstract

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is an autoimmune disease in which the beta cells of the pancreas that produce insulin are destroyed by T lymphocytes [1]. According to the World Health Organization, in 2019 alone, diabetes was the direct cause of 1.5 million deaths [2]. So far, the disease process is not fully understood, and a cure has not yet been developed, which is why diabetes is one of the priority diseases under research in the World Health Organization’s first and second programmes of Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI1 and IMI2) [3]. Of the 13 projects funded by IMI until October 2019, only one was targeted to type 1 diabetes – INNODIA [3].