Stratified medicine in type 2 diabetes: insights from the study of drug response

Type 2 diabetes is a major chronic disease that presents a considerable burden to patients and healthcare systems globally. There has been some progress made on understanding the causes of the disease, particularly in unravelling its genetic aetiology, with this knowledge being applied in clinical practice in monogenic diabetes. The field of stratified medicine in diabetes is currently limited to relatively rare forms of monogenic diabetes. Professor Pearson aims to identify new ways to stratify the disease by developing an understanding (clinical, biochemical and genomic) of why some drugs work well in some people with type 2 diabetes but not others. He will also investigate the mechanisms for variation that explain why some patients respond to diabetes drugs and others experience adverse reactions.