T-Rex clinical trial for type 1 diabetes: Podcast

The Sanford Project: T-Rex Study, a Phase 2 clinical trial conducted collaboratively by Sanford Health and Caladrius Biosciences, Inc., has reached the halfway point for enrollment and treatment. The project is studying the potential of CLBS03, Caladrius’ cell therapy consisting of each patient’s own regulatory T cells, or Tregs, to help the body fight type 1 diabetes.

Sanford Health sites in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and Fargo, North Dakota, together with 10 other sites around the country, are accepting qualifying participants. Kurt Griffin, M.D., Ph.D., director of clinical trials for the Sanford Project, and Fargo-based pediatric endocrinologist Luis Casas, M.D., are the study’s principal investigators.

“People with type 1 diabetes tend to have fewer Treg cells, and those they do have don’t work as well,” Dr. Griffin said. “We want to increase the number of cells and improve their function to stop the attack on the beta cells that make insulin. I’m excited to have enrolled the first cohort so quickly at the two Sanford sites, to have reached the halfway point of the study and to continue to contribute to enrolling the second half of participants.”

People with type 1 diabetes experience a loss of insulin-producing beta cells. The Sanford Project: T-Rex Study is exploring if expanding the body’s supply of Treg cells can help prevent the immune system from mistakenly destroying insulin-producing beta cells.

Learn more through this podcast edition of “A Better You,” which airs Saturdays on KSOO-AM, Sioux Falls.