LOUISVILLE, Ky. (May 14, 2012) — Yum! Brands Foundation is donating $1 million to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation for Immune Therapies research.
The donation was announced April 20 at the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) Kentucky Chapter Passport to the Bluegrass Gala conducted at the KFC Yum! Center.
JDRF was founded in 1970 to find a cure for type 1 diabetes and its complications through the support of research. Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is an autoimmune disease in which a person’s pancreas stops producing insulin, a hormone that enables people to get energy from food and necessary to survive. T1D usually strikes in childhood, adolescence or young adulthood, and lasts a lifetime. Individuals who have T1D are solely dependent on insulin to live and must take multiple insulin injections daily. However, insulin is not a cure nor does it prevent the possibility of the disease’s devastating effects: kidney failure, blindness, nerve damage, amputation, heart attack, stroke and pregnancy complications.
JDRF has directed more than $1.6 billion to diabetes research since its inception. Because of its commitment to the mission, it is the world’s largest charitable funder of diabetes research, currently supporting over 50 clinical trials throughout the world, including one study at the University of Louisville. JDRF’s goal is to Cure T1D by replacing or renewing insulin-producing cells, and stopping the body’s own attack on those cells; Treat T1D with new devices and therapies that optimize blood glucose control and treat/prevent diabetic complications; and Prevent others from being diagnosed with T1D starting with vaccines and other therapies.
Yum! Brands, Inc. has supported the JDRF Kentucky Chapter for many years, serving as the presenting sponsor for its annual fall Walk to Cure Diabetes at Churchill Downs. This donation from the Yum! Brands Foundation will directly support the development of therapies to stop the underlying cause of type 1 diabetes, the misguided immune system attack on the body’s own insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas.
For more information about JDRF or its areas of research, contact the Kentucky Chapter Office at 1-502-485-9397 or [email protected].
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