A preliminary multicentre study of the treatment of recently diagnosed type 1 diabetes by combination nicotinamide-cyclosporin therapy.

The aim of the present study, a pilot trial, was to find out if nicotinamide (50 mg kg-1 day-1) in combination with cyclosporin A favours remission in recently diagnosed Type 1 diabetic patients, and if it postpones relapse even when cyclosporin A is administered in decreasing doses (trough blood level 300-500 micrograms l-1 until month 4, and 100-300 micrograms l-1 until month 9) and then discontinued. The criteria for inclusion in the study and the follow-up protocol were the same as those used in the Cyclosporin Diabetes France (CDF) programme in which all five of the centres involved in this study participated. The data of the present preliminary open study were therefore compared retrospectively with those of the placebo (CDF-placebo) and cyclosporin (CDF-active) group of the CDF programme. Clinical remission (fasting plasma glucose less than 7.8 mmol l-1, postprandial plasma glucose less than 11.1 mmol l-1, HbA1c less than 7.5% with neither insulin nor oral hypoglycaemic agents) was achieved within 6 months in 12 out of 35 patients (34%) vs 16 out of 63 (25%) in CDF-active and 11 out of 59 (19%) in CDF-placebo. Remission was achieved by month 9 in 6 out of 35 patients (17%) vs 13 out of 54 (24%) in CDF-active and 3 out of 52 (6%) in CDF-placebo. By 12 months remission persisted in 3 out of 35 patients (9%) vs 11 out of 63 (17%) in CDF-active and 0 out of 52 (0%) in CDF-placebo.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)