HYDE-SMITH SUPPORTS RENEWING TYPE I DIABETES PROGRAM AS PANEL REVIEWS PROGRESS TOWARD A CURE

HYDE-SMITH SUPPORTS RENEWING TYPE I DIABETES PROGRAM AS PANEL REVIEWS PROGRESS TOWARD A CURE

Following Hearing, Hyde-Smith Meets Mississippi Delegate to Breakthrough T1D 2025 Children's Congress

VIDEO: Senator Hyde-Smith Looks Toward Type I Cure, Better Early Detection Efforts.
PHOTO: Senator Hyde-Smith with KJ, a Mississippi Delegate to the Breakthrough T1D 2025 Children's Congress.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss), as part of a committee review of diabetes research progress, today agreed to cosponsor legislation to reauthorize the nation's specific initiative in the search for a cure for type 1 diabetes.

Hyde-Smith on Wednesday participated in a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing titled, A Future Without Type 1 Diabetes: Accelerating Breakthroughs and Creating Hope, which included a discussion on the need to reauthorize the Special Diabetes Program (SDP). The current authorization expires September 30.

"I want to be your cheerleader. I want to be your supporter, and everybody in this room that's dealing with this. You've got members of Congress that are in it with you. We don't know the anxiety that comes with this every day like you do. But we know what our job is and our job is to find a cure, and we're not going to forget that," Hyde-Smith told youth with type I diabetes who attended the hearing.

Hyde-Smith is cosponsoring Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins' bipartisan Special Diabetes Program Reauthorization Act (S.2211) to reauthorize SDP, which is comprised of the Special Statutory Funding Program for Type 1 Diabetes Research and the Special Diabetes Program for Indians. The SDP allows the National Institutes of Health to expand research and critical trials on type I diabetes treatments and potential cures beyond its annual appropriations.

Hyde-Smith asked Griffin P. Rodgers, M.D., M.A.C.P., director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, what progress is being made to improve early detection for those at risk of type I diabetes "to ensure those who are eligible for the drug can receive treatment to delay its onset."

"So just continuing to educate the professional staff people in the allied health fields about these critical complications or signs and symptoms early on. We've developed, with the SDP support, a fairly large network called Trial Net in which we're able to screen not only individuals who are at high risk but other patients who may have related autoimmune conditions," Rodgers testified. "I have to say our partner in Breakthrough T1D has really made this awareness campaign one of their vital challenges, and I think they've been equal to the challenge. They've been letting people be quite aware because there are things to do in terms of prevention today."

Rodgers' submitted testimony also reviewed SDP progress and noted that NIH-supported research advances have dramatically improved the health and quality of life for those with or at risk of type 1 diabetes. Additionally, Rodgers added that some SDP-supported research is leading to breakthroughs for adults with type 2 diabetes.

Following the hearing, Hyde-Smith met with 10-year-old KJ of Clinton, who is a Mississippi delegate to the Breakthrough T1D Children's Congress, and his mother. Formerly known as the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Breakthrough T1D organizes the annual congress to advocate on Capitol Hill and to bring national attention to the disease.

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