The DiabetesCERO Foundation has warned that only 160 people with type 1 diabetes in Spain will be able to access in 2026 any of the four clinical trials currently planned to try to slow the progression of the disease or even reach a cure.
"The four trials that are enrolling patients in our country this year are targeted immunotherapies aimed at protecting the cells that still produce insulin," the entity's scientific director, Dr. Francesc Mitjans, said, who also stressed that "most focus on people with a recent diagnosis, so the window to get involved is very brief."
Even so, he regretted that "in Spain there are not enough regeneration and cell replacement trials, such as a transplant of pancreatic islets, that open up new opportunities for those who have been living with the disease for years." On the occasion of World Diabetes Day, which is commemorated this Saturday, November 14, the DiabetesCERO Foundation has presented the report "Oportunities to Access a Clinical Trial in Type 1 Diabetes in Spain in 2026: Data by Autonomous Communities, Provinces and Hospitals".
The document reflects significant territorial inequalities: Aragon, Asturias, Castile-La Mancha, Castile and León, Extremadura, Murcia, La Rioja and the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla do not participate in any of the studies. "The absence of participating centers forces patients from these territories and their families to travel to another community if they want to opt for one of these trials," the report states, which also details that 76 percent of the provinces also do not take part in the projects.
The analysis also highlights the scarcity of information about active trials and the pathways to access them, a problem that even reaches healthcare professionals, who do not always have clear tools to guide interested people to other centers. This situation is compounded by the fact that some protocols require enrollment in less than 56 days from diagnosis. In light of this scenario, the foundation has launched the signature-gathering campaign "Que vivir lejos no te aleje de un ensayo clínico," with which it calls for more equitable access to trials across the entire territory.
In relation to the studies in progress, the organization states that two of the trials are already recruiting patients and another is expected to begin enrolling shortly. The Basque Country is the only community that concentrates the four trials, all located at the Hospital Universitario de Cruces, in Bilbao (Vizcaya). Andalucía, Cataluña, and Madrid participate in three each, while Galicia, Canarias, Cantabria, Comunidad Valenciana, Navarra, and Baleares have a single trial.
Differences in access within the communities
The report highlights that inequalities occur not only between communities, but also within those that do have active studies. As an example, it includes the case of Iván and Noemí, a Madrid couple whose 12-year-old child has just been diagnosed. The minor will begin participating on November 16 in a trial with the drug teplizumab at Hospital Universitario La Paz, in Madrid.
"In our case, nobody informed us about the existence of clinical trials in Spain," they have recounted, remembering that the disease records close to 6,000 new diagnoses each year, of which 1,400 correspond to children under 15. "For our family, getting our son into the trial means looking to the future with more hope," they added.
Given this reality, the general director of the Fundación DiabetesCERO, Sandra Campinas, has explained that the entity has already taken "the first steps to bring the trials closer to patients and facilitate recruitment in hospitals such as Cruces." "We want families to know in time about the available options that are closest and that they can access them, no matter where they live," she concluded.