John Cammett
Co-Chairman and Founding Partner of Realterm and Passionate Seed Funder of The Breakthrough T1D Barbara Dewey Cammett Center of Excellence in New England
Project ACT
Accelerating cell therapies today for cures tomorrow
Breakthrough T1D’s cures strategy includes cell therapies—an essential part of achieving our mission to cure, prevent, and treat type 1 diabetes (T1D) and its complications.
Project ACT (Accelerate Cell Therapies) is our game plan to make cell therapies a reality for millions around the world who live with T1D.
What is Project ACT?
Project ACT is a Breakthrough T1D initiative to dramatically speed cell therapy products as T1D cures through coordinated efforts to simultaneously advance research, development, regulatory, access, and adoption.
Cell therapies could cure people with T1D. By safely accelerating their development more people will have access to these treatments more quickly.
How Project ACT works
We know that cell therapies will allow us to walk away from T1D. Project ACT is the roadmap for getting there sooner—and here’s what that looks like.
Research and Development
Invest in novel protection strategies by providing cells to researchers, funding innovative research, and building on the work being done in our Centers of Excellence.
Clinical Testing
Develop guidelines for clinical trial models, recruitment, and endpoints to expedite the pathway to approval.
Regulatory Policy
Influence and de-risk regulatory pathways to further accelerate approvals for cell therapies.
Health Policy
Build and expand pathways for access and coverage of first and future cell therapies.
Medical Affairs
Resource health care professionals for clinical readiness to ensure seamless implementation and adoption of these therapies when approved.
Project ACT Progress
2024
Project ACT launches
On World Diabetes Day in November 2024, Breakthrough T1D announces the launch of Project ACT, the biggest, most concerted effort ever to accelerate cell therapies—especially those that do not require immunosuppression—for type 1 diabetes.
Read More About The Launch Of Project ACT
Breakthrough T1D launches educational resources for healthcare professionals
Breakthrough T1D’s launches healthcare professional (HCP) resources to educate HCPs about T1D—including cell therapies and recruiting clinical trials.
Read More About Healthcare Professional Education And Resources2025
The Special Diabetes Program (SDP) is extended
The SDP—a federally-funded program that provides critical funding to the National Institutes of Health to support diabetes research—is extended for six months at $80 million, which includes funding for cell therapies research.
Read More About The Special Diabetes ProgramPaper detailing unmet needs for the T1D community is published
A Breakthrough T1D publication titled “The Urgent Need for Breakthrough Therapies and a World Without Type 1 Diabetes” brings awareness to critical gaps in T1D care, argues for the acceleration of cell therapies as cures for T1D, and provides tangible steps to make this possible.
Read More About Unmet Needs For T1DNew hires with leading expertise join Breakthrough T1D
Breakthrough T1D’s newest scientists are experts in areas such as biomaterials, vascular biology, and transplant immunology—and they’re helping us drive advances in beta cell source, survival, and protection.
Read More About Cell Therapies Challenges Our New Hires Are Tackling
First international islet cell therapy workshops hosted at Breakthrough T1D HQ
Breakthrough T1D’s Medical Affairs team hosts workshops to start the development of a five-year roadmap for clinical adoption of cell therapies and take the first step toward developing Accredited Centers of Reference, which will set the new standard for cross-disciplinary cell therapy teams in clinics.
Read More About The WorkshopsVertex publishes zimislecel data in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine
Vertex publishes promising one-year data from the completed phase 1/2 trial for zimislecel (part of the ongoing phase 1/2/3 trial), sharing that ten of 12 participants are insulin therapy independent. All 12 participants met the primary endpoints of the trial.
Read More About The Zimislecel Clinical Trial Results
Breakthrough T1D helps organize an event at the European Parliament about accelerating cures for T1D
Breakthrough T1D leadership and staff meet with European policymakers to discuss the role of the European Union in addressing the needs of the T1D community and advancing T1D cures, including cell therapies.
Read More About The Event
Roadmap for cell replacement therapies for T1D is published
A Breakthrough T1D publication, in collaboration with other experts in the field, titled “Future Directions and Clinical Trial Considerations for Novel Islet Beta Cell Replacement Therapies for Type 1 Diabetes” outlines how clinical trial design and expanding eligible trial participants are key to accelerating cell therapies through the pipeline—and provides a roadmap for everyone in the field to follow to get us there faster.
Read More About The Roadmap
Sana publishes gene-edited islet transplant data in The New England Journal of Medicine
Sana publishes data from the first person with T1D who received their gene-edited, hypoimmune donor-derived islets. After 12 weeks, the transplanted cells are making insulin—without immunosuppression.
Read More About Sana's Gene-Edited IsletsClinical trial for Eledon’s tegoprubart, an alternative to standard immunosuppressants, is expanded
Nine people are now enrolled in a clinical trial investigating tegoprubart, an immunomodulatory therapy, with donor-derived islet transplantation. The first three participants are insulin therapy independent.
Read More About Tegoprubart
A study about how people with T1D perceive risks and benefits for new therapies is published
Breakthrough T1D and collaborators publish a study titled “Perceptions of the Benefits and Risks of Novel Therapies for Type 1 Diabetes: A Qualitative Study,” showing that people with T1D are willing to try cell therapies because the benefits outweigh the risks. The authors state that the perceptions of people with T1D are key when it comes to making regulatory decisions about cell therapies.
Read More About The StudyBreakthrough T1D launches a new funding opportunity for projects that can address cell therapy challenges
Breakthrough T1D releases a new Request for Applications for projects that aim to develop biomaterials and technologies to advance encapsulated cell therapies.
Read More About Our Research Funding OpportunitiesDive deeper into progress driven by Project ACT on our News and Updates web page
What are cell therapies?
People with T1D no longer have functioning beta cells, which are the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin. The immune system has destroyed them. If we can manufacture insulin-producing cells and safely put them inside the body to replace the cells that were lost, we’ll have cured this disease.
To do this, we’re working on developing an unlimited source of beta cells from stem cells. Today, cells like these that were developed with Breakthrough T1D funding are in human clinical trials—and they’re producing insulin.
The next step is keeping them safe in the body without using drugs that have serious side effects. We’re working on this in several ways, from placing them inside a protective barrier to modifying the cells so they are undetected by the immune system.
Those are cell therapies. Project ACT is going to further accelerate their development.
Why Breakthrough T1D?
Because revolutionizing T1D is something we’ve done before.
Nearly twenty years ago, we launched the Artificial Pancreas Project to bring automated insulin delivery to the T1D community. After years of work, hundreds of millions of dollars in research grants, and countless hours working with the FDA and other regulatory agencies on a regulatory pathway, these systems became a reality for people with T1D.
We will replicate this success in cell therapies.
Over the last 25 years, we have invested more than $250M and funded more than 300 cell therapy research projects, with more than 30 grants funded and activated in the last fiscal year (2024). Cell therapies in human clinical trials, including those developed by Vertex, were made possible by Breakthrough T1D funding and critical work by our colleagues at the T1D Fund.
We have the people, history, experience, and supporters needed to deliver on Project ACT.
Project ACT founding donors
The Tullman Family
An Anonymous Donor
My goal is to take off my insulin pump. I believe Project ACT will get me there. Breakthrough T1D has the passion and track record to achieve its mission, advancing cures for type 1 diabetes.”
Learn more about our mission
We will continue to fund the best research until this disease is a thing of the past.
Our work helps advance treatments, influence policy, and improve access to care.
No organization does more to improve lives and drive toward cures for type 1 diabetes.
