Diamyd Medical’s experimental vaccine Diamyd Type 1, used to treat Type 1 diabetes soon after diagnosis in patients age 10–18 years, slowed the loss of function in residual beta cells that produce insulin in the pancreas.

The effect, which was not a primary endpoint in the Phase II trial, lasted as long as 30 months and “may contribute to the preservation of residual insulin secretion in patients with recent-onset type 1 diabetes, although it did not change the insulin requirement,” according to a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

The article concludes that the results from the 70 patients in the study “provide preliminary proof of concept” for the vaccine.