A study in today’s New England Journal of Medicine reports that an experimental drug showed positive results in slowing the course, and maybe even preventing the development of juvenile (type 1) diabetes.

Affecting up to 2 million Americans, type 1 diabetes robs the body’s ability to produce insulin, a necessary hormone for processing sugars. It is often called juvenile diabetes because the onset occurs at an early age.

Funded by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, researchers from Belgium, Germany, England, and France tested the new drug, a lab created antibody, on 80 patients diagnosed with the disease.

Half of them were given six days of treatment and scientists found that the CD3 monoclonal antibody was sufficient to stop the immune system from destroying beta cells in the pancreas, which make insulin.

The drug preserved the beta cells for up to 18 months after treatment in 12 of the 40 patients, which is a large enough percentage to create excitement. The difference was in the number of beta cells in any given patient. Those with more beta cells at the beginning of treatment faired better than those whose beta cell levels were already deplete.

This indicates that if treatment is given at the onset of the disease, the new drug can slow and even stop the disease altogether. Though treatment would be limited to the youngest of sufferers of one type of diabetes, a little progress is exciting progress.

Side effects included temporary flu-like symptoms, mononucleosis-like illnesses, fever and swollen glands. Though side effects have raised concern, according to Ake Lernmark of the University of Washington in Seattle, when combined with other treatments, the new antibody could be a significant step toward effect treatment of type 1 diabetes. The safety of the new drug will be addressed in further studies.

“If CD3 monoclonal antibodies are shown to be safe, perhaps their use … could lead to improved therapies for type 1 diabetes,” said Dr. Lernmark.