IIT Diabetes: Access to Treatment and Justice in Research Program Receives $5 Million Award
Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) has received $5 million to support the ongoing work of its Center for Diabetes Research and Policy, a multi-disciplinary center that encompasses scholars from engineering, the sciences and law.
The funds come from the settlement of a consumer class action lawsuit challenging the effectiveness of the diabetes drug Rezulin. Invoking the legal doctrine of cy pres, the court directed that a portion of the funds remaining after all the claimants had been compensated be directed to IIT to further its diabetes research.
Currently, IIT’s Institute for Science, Law and Technology (ISLAT); Engineering Center for Diabetes Research and Education (ECDRE); and Health and Disability Law Clinic focus on various aspects of diabetes research, prevention, diagnosis and treatment. The Center for Diabetes Research and Policy undertakes scientific research, makes policy assessments of research and treatment, and provides legal advice for individuals with diabetes-related conditions who are participating in research and seeking access to care.
Diabetes has reached epidemic proportions in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has projected that one in three children born in the United States after 2000 will become diabetic in their lifetime. Diabetes already affects nearly 21 million children and adults nationwide. The CDC further estimates that children who have acquired the disease by age 10 will have their lives shortened by 19 years. Additionally, the American Diabetes Association says the average life expectancy of Americans may be declining for the first time in more than a century due to the prevalence of diabetes.
Although the problem is gaining attention in the medical and scientific communities – as well as in the media – strategies for coping with it remain elusive. IIT is already engaging in research for the prevention, treatment and cure of diabetes and its complications. New methods for treatment of diabetes induced complications such as blindness, wounds and vascular diseases and non-invasive glucose monitors are being developed by ECDRE researchers, who are also working on creating a bioartificial pancreas. Specialists at ISLAT are analyzing the extent and types of discrimination diabetics face and how they can be addressed. The Health and Disability Law Clinic is addressing the legal injustices faced by people with diabetes by representing people with diabetes-related conditions in a variety of cases.
Founded in 1890, IIT is a Ph.D.-granting university with more than 7,300 students in engineering, sciences, architecture, psychology, design, humanities, business and law. IIT’s interprofessional, technology-focused curriculum is designed to advance knowledge through research and scholarship, to cultivate invention improving the human condition, and to prepare students from throughout the world for a life of professional achievement, service to society, and individual fulfillment. Visit www.iit.edu.
