Treatment goal
Insulin independence via donor islet transplant, using a newer immunosuppression regimen intended to be gentler than the calcineurin-inhibitor-based standard.
Type of approach
Donor (allogeneic) pancreatic islet transplant, paired with tegoprubart, a costimulation-blockade immunosuppressive antibody.
Current evidence
Company-reported, investigator-initiated pilot — not yet peer-reviewed.
Trial phase & enrollment
Phase 1 pilot. 12 patients reported at UChicago Medicine.
Who may qualify
Confirm current eligibility criteria directly with the study site.Investigator-initiated pilots often have narrower, less-publicized enrollment than sponsor-run trials.
Location & travel
University of Chicago Medicine.Confirm this is still the only active site before relying on this for enrollment.
What participants undergo
Donor islet infusion plus ongoing tegoprubart immunosuppression; monitoring for graft function and standard transplant-related risks.
Possible benefits
Full insulin independence reported in all 12 patients in this pilot.
Known & unknown risks
Standard transplant/immunosuppression risks apply. Tegoprubart's specific risk profile versus calcineurin inhibitors is still being established. No concurrent control arm means the comparison to a historical cohort could overstate the regimen's actual advantage.
Immunosuppression requirement
Yes — ongoing tegoprubart. Not immunosuppression-free; this is the specific reason it stays a functional cure, not a durable cure.
Results so far
12 of 12 patients insulin-independent (100%) in this small pilot.
Definition of success used
Insulin independence — durability beyond the reported follow-up window and long-term safety of the tegoprubart regimen are not yet established.
Duration / follow-up
Not specified in the release reviewed.Confirm current follow-up length before treating this as a settled durability claim.
Cost & compensation
Not disclosed in the sources reviewed.Investigator-initiated pilots often have different funding/coverage arrangements than sponsor-run trials — worth asking about directly.
Sponsor
Eledon Pharmaceuticals (tegoprubart), with UChicago Medicine as the investigator-initiated site.
Why it's worth tracking anyway
Donor islets can't scale to the broader T1D population, but a gentler, more effective immunosuppression regimen matters right now for people already receiving or awaiting donor transplants — a real near-term benefit even though it isn't the durable-cure path.