For 100 years, our innovations have helped define the standard of care for people living with diabetes. We are not done.
Building on this heritage, we combine our insulin products with services to support patients and healthcare systems. We manufacture many of our insulin products at our Insulin Campus in Frankfurt, one of the largest insulin production sites in the world.
Did You Know?
1.3M
Australians were living with diabetes in 2021, a number that increased almost 2.8-fold since 2000.1
3.1M
Australians are projected to be living with diabetes by 2050.2

What Is Diabetes?
Diabetes is a chronic condition affecting the body’s ability to effectively process and convert sugar into energy.1
People with type 1 diabetes do not produce insulin, a hormone made by the pancreas. People with type 2 diabetes do not respond to insulin as well as they should, or do not make enough of it.1

Type 1 Diabetes
We continue to push scientific boundaries to improve our understanding of the immune system and bring forward breakthrough medicines that can help improve outcomes for those Australians living with type 1 diabetes (T1D).
Meet Callum
Diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) at just nine years of age, Callum’s life changed instantly. So did his family’s.
What started as ongoing fatigue turned into a medical emergency, leading to a diagnosis that now requires lifelong management. Despite the challenges, Callum hasn’t let T1D hold him back.
Australia has one of the world’s highest T1D rates, with on average, seven new diagnoses each day.3,8
140 000+ Australians live with diagnosed T1D3
3,000 adults and children are newly diagnosed with T1D every year4
What Is Type 1 Diabetes (T1D)?
Type 1 Diabetes (sometimes known as autoimmune type 1 diabetes) is a lifelong condition that occurs when the immune system mistakenly attacks insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.9 Unlike type 2 diabetes, T1D is driven by genetic and environmental factors and can affect anyone, regardless of age or lifestyle.9 More than 30% of T1D diagnoses in Australia involve Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA), a medical emergency caused by low insulin and high blood glucose leading to acidic ketone buildup.7, 10
Most people are only diagnosed with T1D when symptoms develop, such as increased thirst, fatigue, unexplained weight loss and frequent urination.6 But research has now shown that there are four stages of T1D progression6:
Stage 1:
The immune system attacks insulin-producing cells. Blood glucose remains normal, and autoantibodies are present, but there are no symptoms.
Stage 2:
Blood glucose becomes abnormal, but symptoms are still absent. Autoantibodies remain.
Stage 3:
Symptoms appear due to high blood glucose levels, including excessive thirst, frequent urination, weight loss, and fatigue.
Stage 4:
Long standing T1D, used for someone living with the condition for numerous years and is insulin dependent. Long-term health complications are common.

It’s time to get #OneStepAhead
At Sanofi, we’re excited by the possibility of diagnosing and treating T1D earlier, to improve the health and wellbeing of Australian patients and their families.
Autoantibodies that determine the likelihood of a person developing stage 3 T1D can be detected through a simple blood test. Screening of people who are at risk of T1D could help them stay one step ahead of the autoimmune condition.
For people with T1D and their families, earlier diagnosis could:
- Give them more time to prepare, ask questions, and adjust to living with T1D.
- Reduce the chance of serious complications such as DKA and being admitted to hospital at diagnosis.
Breakthrough T1D Australia currently runs multiple screening programs across Australia, hoping to improve the long-term health outcomes of those people who may develop T1D.
Explore More
Understanding Type 1 Diabetes
Type1Screen
Type1Screen is a not for profit organisation that offers antibody testing to children and young adults to determine if they are at risk of developing type 1 diabetes.
MAT-AU-2501413. Updated July 2025
References
- International Diabetes Federation (2022). About Diabetes. Accessed December 2022
- Diabetes-Australia-Report-2022_Change-the-Future_1.0_compressed.pdf
- Baker Institute. Diabetes: the silent pandemic and its impact on Australia. www.diabetesaustralia.com.au/wp-content/uploads/Diabetes-the-silent-pandemic-and-its-impact-on-Australia.pdf
- AIHW. Type 1 Diabetes. https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/diabetes/diabetes/contents/how-common-is-diabetes/type-1-diabetes
- National Diabetes Services Scheme. NDSS Data Snapshots, Type 1 Diabetes. Reporting at 31 December 2024. Available at: https://snapshots.ndss.com.au/
- Breakthrough T1D - The stages of type 1 diabetes and why they’re important. 2024. Available: Stages of type 1 diabetes | Breakthrough T1D https://breakthrought1d.org.au/app/uploads/2025/03/Stages-of-T1D-V2.pdf
- Clapin, HF. et al. Diabetic Ketoacidosis at Onset of Type 1 Diabetes and Long-term HbA1c in 7,961 Children and Young Adults in the Australasian Diabetes Data Network. Diabetes Care 1 December 2022; 45 (12): 2918–2925. https://doi.org/10.2337/dc22-0853
- AIHW. Diabetes: Australian Facts. Web Report. 12 December 2024. Available at: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/diabetes/diabetes/data
- Breakthrough T1D - What is type 1 diabetes | Causes & symptoms | Breakthrough T1D
- Breakthrough T1D - Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) - Breakthrough T1D