A drug called Rituxan, used to treat cancer and rheumatoid arthritis, could help in slowing down the development of newly discovered type1 or juvenile diabetes as per researchers' report.

The report was published in the New England Journal of Medicine and the researchers said that the drug may interfere with the body's mistaken destruction of the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.

Rituxan, also called rituximab generically, is made by Genentech, which is a unit of Roche Holding AG and Biogen Idec Inc. It was created to wipe out immune cells known as B lymphocytes which reproduce uncontrollably in lymphoma.

In juvenile diabetes the same set of cells are also involved in the autoimmune destruction of healthy cells and tissue seen in rheumatoid arthritis.

80-90 percent of those insulin-producing cells are usually destroyed by the time diabetes symptoms appear. In the hope to save the remaining cells, the Pescovitz team gave Rituxan.

Initially the treatment worked and the body produced more insulin. Then over time, the effects faded and insulin production began to decline at the same rate as among people who received placebo.