The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the supplemental Biologic License Application (BLA) for Tzield (teplizumab-mzwv), expanding the indication from eight years and older to as young as one year of age to delay the onset of stage-III type 1 diabetes (T1D) in patients diagnosed with stage-II T1D. The approval was granted under a priority review process and is supported by one-year data from the PETITE-T1D phase-IV study (clinical study identifier: NCT05757713), evaluating safety and pharmacokinetics in young children.

"This approval opens an important new chapter in diabetes care for young children with stage-II type 1 diabetes and their families,” said Kimber Simmons, MD, MS, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Barbara Davis Center, Aurora, Colorado, US. “This is especially important because these children are often at the highest risk of progressing quickly and without warning. Delaying the onset of stage-III type 1 diabetes during the years when management is often most difficult because of a child’s small size and dependence on caregivers could have a truly meaningful impact for families."

Tzield is also being reviewed by the FDA for a potential indication to delay the progression of stage-III T1D in patients eight years of age and older recently diagnosed with stage-III T1D.

"The autoimmune attack driving this disease often begins early in life, and the burden that autoimmune T1D poses in this very young population and their families is significant,” said Christopher Corsico, Global Head of Development, Sanofi. "This approval underscores the importance of targeting the immune system early in autoimmune type 1 diabetes, aiming to impact its natural progression by delaying the loss of insulin production in the pancreas.”

Tzield is approved in the EU (under the name Teizeild), in the UK, China, Canada, Israel, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, and Brazil to delay the onset of stage-III T1D in adults and pediatric patients eight years and older diagnosed with stage-II T1D. Other regulatory reviews are ongoing. Tzield was previously granted FDA breakthrough therapy designation and Orphan Drug Designation (ODD), for medicines that treat rare diseases affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US.