Inside STAT: Powerful new cancer drugs can trigger diabetes — and no one is certain why

RICH LENIHAN DEVELOPED DRUG-INDUCED DIABETES FOLLOWING IMMUNOTHERAPY. (COURTESY RICH LENIHAN)

When it comes to immunotherapy, the powerful new treatment that relies on unleashing the body’s own defense system against cancer, there has always been a risk that this defense will go too far and result in autoimmune complications. These reactions, if caught quickly, are not permanently debilitating, but more patients now are starting to develop drug-induced diabetes. The condition is permanent and patients who are diagnosed with it will require daily insulin shots for the rest of their lives. Efforts are now underway, including a new $10 million initiative from the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and others, to get at the root of this side effect that one patient says is “like being in hell.” STAT contributor Elie Dolgin has more here.