ENT1DEP consortium member Professor Knut Dahl-Jørgensen (Oslo University Hospital) represented the project at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) Annual Meeting 2026, held in Milan, Italy from 28 September to 2 October.
He participated in the INNODIA Symposium on T1D Therapies, which brought together researchers and medicine developers to discuss promising disease-modifying therapies for type 1 diabetes. During the symposium’s session on beta-cell health, Professor Dahl-Jørgensen gave presentation talk on the planned Nordic Diabetes Virus Detection and Prevention Trial (Nordic DiViD Prevention Trial). In the expert panel discussion that followed, he highlighted the role of viruses.
The Nordic DiViD Prevention Trial builds on findings from previous studies suggesting that persistent, low-grade enterovirus infection in the pancreas may contribute to beta-cell stress and the autoimmune process involved in T1D. It also follows the earlier DiViD Intervention Trial, in which antiviral treatment with pleconaril and ribavirin showed an effect in preserving the body’s own insulin production in people recently diagnosed with T1D.
The new Phase 2 trial moves intervention to Stage Zero-an even earlier phase of the disease process. It will enroll 260 children aged 3 to 16 years with one diabetes-related autoantibody. Participants will receive six months of antiviral treatment or placebo and will be followed for five years. The primary aim is to determine whether antiviral treatment can reduce the likelihood of developing a second autoantibody, an important marker of disease progression, or in the best case, reverse to presence of no autoantibodies.
The study will be conducted across Nordic centres in Norway, Finland, Denmark and Sweden. By intervening early, the researchers aim to investigate whether targeting viral infection could help preserve beta cells and alter the progression towards clinical T1D.
Wider Reach via EASD TV
The project’s presence extended beyond the symposium. The ENT1DEP educational video, “How virus may cause type 1 diabetes”, was broadcast throughout the conference on EASD TV, reaching an estimated audience of 15,000 delegates. Together with Professor Dahl-Jørgensen’s presentation and panel contributions, this screen time brought ENT1DEP’s innovative antiviral prevention strategies to a global scientific community.
To explore the full event session line up of INNODIA Symposium on T1D Therapies, view the agenda below.