Denver City Wire

WASHINGTON, D.C. – More than 260 members of the U.S. House of Representatives signed a letter sent to House leadership Tuesday calling on them to extend funding for a key diabetes-research program that represents the nation’s best hope for curing a disease that now affects nearly a third of the U.S. population.In the letter – led by the co-chairs of the House Diabetes Caucus, U.S. Reps. Diana DeGette (D-CO) and Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) – a bipartisan group of lawmakers urged Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries to take steps now to reauthorize funding for the federal government’s Special Diabetes Program, which is set to expire at the end of September.“Thank you for your long-standing support of the Special Diabetes Program (SDP), an essential resource in our nation’s investment in diabetes research, treatment, education, and prevention programs,” the lawmakers wrote. “We write today to ask for your continued commitment to this program by ensuring its reauthorization prior to its expiration this September.”In expressing the House’s overwhelming support for continuing to fund the program, the lawmakers noted that diabetes is currently the “most expensive chronic disease in both human and economic terms, affecting people of all ages, races, and in every region of our country.”As the lawmakers pointed out, approximately one out of every four dollars spent on health care in this country is spent treating people with diabetes.

“It is essential that we continue to invest in the research necessary to develop a cure for diabetes,” the lawmakers wrote. “The SDP funds research that leads directly to the development of new insights and therapies that improve the lives of those with diabetes, and accelerating progress towards curing and preventing the disease … further investment in these vital programs is essential to continue outreach and education, plan next steps for research programs, and effectively allocate research resources – all of which play an important role in helping to better treat, prevent, and ultimately cure diabetes.”

The Special Diabetes Program was created by Congress in 1997 to develop new ways to treat, prevent and eventually cure the disease. In the decades since the program started, the research it’s funded has led to several significant breakthroughs and the development of some of the newest treatments that are now available to patients.

Among the program’s successes is the first-ever FDA-approved drug to delay the onset of Type-1 diabetes, which is now being administered to patients; development of the first fully-automated insulin dosing system, which is making it easier for patients to manage the disease and improving their overall quality of life; the discovery of new treatments for patients with kidney disease, which is not only saving lives but is also projected to save Medicare more than $126 billion in treatment costs over the next 25 years; and the development of groundbreaking new treatments to reverse vision loss in patients with the disease.

While diabetes remains the seventh leading cause of death in the United States, if Congress fails to reauthorize funding for the Special Diabetes Program, it will expire on September 30, 2023.

In 2020, DeGette, who has been an outspoken advocate for diabetes research for many years, led an effort to prevent the critical research program from shuttering at the end of that year. Instead of allowing the program to lapse, Congress agreed to extend funding for it until the end of September 2023. With a majority of the House in support of extending the program further, DeGette and Bilirakis are urging leadership to approve legislation they introduced in April to not only extend, but increase funding for the program over the next two years – which the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted unanimously to approve last month and send to the full House for consideration.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are currently more than 37.3 million Americans living with diabetes, and 96 million more with prediabetes, who are at risk of developing it soon. The CDC predicts, unless a cure is found, an additional 1.5 million Americans will be diagnosed with diabetes every year. Ensuring researchers at the National Institutes of Health, and other related agencies, have the funding needed to continue their ongoing research into the disease is critical to finding a cure. Any lapse in funding caused by an expiration of the program, regardless of length, would be devastating to the progress that’s being made.

Following is the text of the letter lawmakers sent to leadership (a .pdf is available here):

Dear Speaker McCarthy and Democratic Leader Jeffries:

Thank you for your long-standing support of the Special Diabetes Program (SDP), an essential resource in our nation’s investment in diabetes research, treatment, education, and prevention programs. We write today to ask for your continued commitment to this program by ensuring its reauthorization prior to its expiration this September.

Diabetes is our country’s most expensive chronic disease in both human and economic terms, affecting people of all ages, races, and in every region of our country. It is a leading cause of heart disease and stroke. Additionally, it is the number one cause of kidney disease, blindness in working-age adults, and lower-limb amputations. Approximately one in four healthcare dollars and one in three Medicare dollars are spent treating people with diabetes. The total cost of diagnosed diabetes in the United States in 2017 was $327 billion, with $237 billion spent on direct medical costs and another $90 billion on reduced productivity. Medical expenditures for individuals diagnosed with diabetes are roughly 2.3 times higher than expenditures for those without the disease.

Overall, the economic costs of diabetes, adjusted for inflation, increased by 26 percent from 2012 to 2017, and these costs are expected to increase as the number of people with diabetes continues to grow. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Diabetes Statistics Report, an estimated 1.4 million new cases of diabetes (5.9 per 1,000 persons) were diagnosed among U.S. adults in 2019. While the increase in these statistics is very concerning, the Special Diabetes Program is making meaningful progress. The Special Diabetes Program is comprised of two partner components: the Special Statutory Funding Program for Type 1 Diabetes Research (SDP) and the Special Diabetes Program for Indians (SDPI). Since the program’s inception, it has delivered meaningful and impactful resources and research breakthroughs for the 37 million Americans with diabetes and 96 million with prediabetes, as well as their loved ones who are impacted by the disease.6 It is essential that we continue to invest in the research necessary to develop a cure for diabetes, as well as support the programs that help prevent and treat the disease and its complications.

The SDP funds research that leads directly to the development of new insights and therapies that improve the lives of those with diabetes, and accelerating progress towards curing and preventing the disease. Likewise, the SDPI has a significant and positive impact on the health of American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN), who are disproportionately affected by type 2 diabetes (T2D). The SDPI is making it possible to develop and sustain quality diabetes treatment and prevention programs in AI/AN communities where they are most needed, and for the first time, diabetes prevalence in AI/AN adults decreased, dropping from 15.4% in 2013 to 14.6% in 2017.

Some notable developments from the SDP and SDPI include:

• Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) Prevention: Landmark research conducted by SDP-funded TrialNet demonstrated for the first time ever that early preventative treatment with a drug targeting the immune system delayed onset of clinical T1D for two years. This drug was recently approved by the FDA and is the first ever disease modifying therapy for T1D. Further, a truly groundbreaking 15-year study of 8,600 children is currently ongoing to determine what environmental factors influence the onset of T1D. Researchers believe that, by identifying specific triggering factors, new strategies can be developed to prevent the initial onset of the disease.
• Diabetes Prevention in the AI/AN Community: Communities with SDPI-funded programs have seen substantial growth in diabetes prevention resources, including more than doubling the number of on-site nutrition services, physical activity and weight management specialists for adults, and an exponential increase of sites with physical activity services for youth. For the first time, from 2013 to 2017 diabetes incidence in AI/ANs decreased each year. In short, SDPI has been one of the most successful programs ever created to reduce the incidence of and complications from T2D.
• Artificial Pancreas (AP) Systems: SDP-funded research laid early groundwork for developing AP systems, which are proven to reduce costly and burdensome T1D complications and improve the quality of life for those with the disease. SDP funds led to the first fully automated insulin-dosing system being made available to patients in 2017, some 5-7 years earlier than expected. Positive results from clinical trials since then have led to another FDA-approved AP system and next-generation AP devices that have outperformed first-generation devices in adolescents and young adults. According to one study, the use of AP systems in adults could save Medicare roughly $1 billion over 25 years.
• Kidney Disease: Researchers have discovered that 6.5 years of intensive blood glucose control can cut in half the onset of impaired kidney function in people with T1D. This reduction in end-stage renal disease could save Medicare roughly $126 billion over 25 years. Also remarkable, between 1996 and 2013, incidence rates of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in AI/AN individuals with diabetes declined by 54 percent. This reduction alone already saved an estimated $520 million between 2006-2015.15
• Eye Therapies: SDP-funded research discovered that combining a drug with laser therapy can reverse vision loss in people living with diabetes. The SDP also filled a critical research gap by funding a head-to-head comparison of three drugs for the treatment of diabetic eye disease. The results are helping patients, clinicians, and insurers identify the right therapy and course of treatment for each individual person. Since the creation of this program, diabetic eye disease rates have decreased by more than 50% for AI/ANs, resulting in a reduction of vision loss and blindness among AI/AN patients. Furthermore, if all patients with T2D receive the recommended screenings and treatment for eye disease, it would lead to an estimated annual savings of $472.1 million for the federal budget, and 94,304 person-years of sight. Each additional person enrolled in screenings generates an estimated cost savings of $975, even when the federal government is responsible for all associated costs.
• Glucose Control: The average blood sugar level, as measured by the hemoglobin A1C test, decreased from 9.0 percent in 1996 to 8.1 percent in 2014 in the AI/AN population. Every percentage point drop in A1C results can reduce the risk of eye, kidney, and nerve complications by up to 40 percent.
• Reductions in Hospitalizations: Hospitalizations for AI/AN due to uncontrolled diabetes dropped by 84 percent in 2015 – from 57.9 hospitalizations per 100,000 to 9.4 per 100,000 adults. It is expected that this contributed to significant savings in healthcare costs.

The Special Diabetes Program improves the lives of the over 133 million Americans living with or at-risk of developing diabetes, while also greatly reducing the long-term healthcare expenditures related to its complications. For these reasons, further investment in these vital programs is essential to continue outreach and education, plan next steps for research programs, and effectively allocate research resources – all of which play an important role in helping to better treat, prevent, and ultimately cure diabetes.

Thanks to your leadership, both components of the Special Diabetes Program continue to receive strong bipartisan support. We look forward to working together to ensure that the SDP and SDPI continue to function as critical components of the national strategy to address T1D research and diabetes in the AI/AN communities.

Sincerely,

Original source can be found here