November's Diabetes Awareness Month: Three Companies That Are Actually Changing How We Treat Diabetes

Every November, Diabetes Awareness Month reminds us that behind every statistic are real people navigating a daily balancing act of medication, diet, and uncertainty. But 2025 feels different. For the first time in decades, science is inching closer to something once thought impossible: a functional cure.

More than 537 million people worldwide live with diabetes, and for most, daily insulin injections are simply part of life. Until now. A handful of pioneering companies are challenging the idea that insulin dependence must last forever, and in doing so, they are transforming not only how we treat diabetes but how we think about careers in life sciences.

At Panda, we follow these breakthroughs closely. Not only because they are extraordinary scientific achievements, but because they are creating new opportunities for talented professionals who want their work to truly matter.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals has done something remarkable. In their latest trial, 83% of patients treated with their stem cell therapy, zimislecel, no longer needed insulin. Imagine living with type 1 diabetes for years, injecting insulin multiple times a day, and then waking up one morning not needing it at all.

Zimislecel works by growing pancreatic islet cells in the lab (the ones that produce insulin) and transplanting them into the liver. The results are groundbreaking: patients reduced insulin use by 92%, maintained stable blood sugar levels, and reported zero severe hypoglycemic events after day 90.

For Vertex, this milestone means scaling fast. They are hiring clinical operations coordinators, regulatory strategists, and commercial teams capable of taking this therapy from the lab to patients worldwide. These are not abstract roles; they are the ones that will determine how quickly this breakthrough changes lives.

One of the biggest challenges in transplantation is lifelong immunosuppression, a necessary burden to stop the body from rejecting foreign cells. Sana Biotechnology is rewriting that rulebook. Using CRISPR gene editing, their team creates pancreatic cells that the body does not recognise as foreign.

In September 2025, Sana shared data that stopped the industry in its tracks: a patient generating their own insulin just 28 days after transplant, without a single anti-rejection drug. The company’s one-time treatment, SC451, could make functional insulin independence a reality.

For professionals in the field, this means opportunity. Gene editing specialists, immunology researchers, and regulatory experts who can navigate first-in-class therapies are in high demand. This is where cutting-edge science meets purpose.

While curative treatments develop, millions still need better day-to-day management. GlyTwin has taken a digital-first approach, creating an AI-driven digital twin that learns from an individual’s biology, lifestyle, and metabolic patterns to predict and prevent blood sugar spikes.

The technology has achieved 86% effectiveness in preventing dangerous glucose fluctuations, outperforming standard clinical guidelines. It is the difference between “take insulin at these times” and “based on your unique profile and yesterday’s activity, take it at 3pm instead of 2pm.”

It is precision medicine at a personal scale, and it is creating new opportunities for data scientists, bioinformaticians, and digital health innovators working at the intersection of AI and human health.

The diabetes landscape is not just growing; it is transforming. Companies are shifting from managing a chronic disease to potentially curing it, a change that is rewriting hiring needs across clinical, regulatory, commercial, and manufacturing functions.

Talent shortages are already visible. Experts in cell and gene therapy regulation, clinical operations for novel therapies, and commercialisation of disruptive treatments are in especially high demand. The professionals joining these companies today are not just taking jobs; they are helping define a new standard of care.

At Panda, we go beyond matching skills to roles. We connect purpose-driven professionals with the companies driving the most meaningful change in diabetes and metabolic health.

Across the Netherlands, Belgium, and Switzerland, we partner with organisations like Vertex, Sana, and digital health innovators like GlyTwin to help them scale. We understand where the biggest impact gaps are and how to find the specialists who can fill them.

This Diabetes Awareness Month, one question stands out:

What if treatments we once thought were impossible are already becoming real?

And for professionals in life sciences, there is an even more personal one:

What if your next career move helped make those treatments possible?

That is not a dream for the distant future. That is happening right now.

Panda connects exceptional professionals with the breakthrough companies transforming diabetes care across Europe. Whether you are a clinical operations specialist, regulatory strategist, CRISPR researcher, or commercial leader, we understand the opportunities and the impact you want to create.

Visit www.panda-int.com to explore current positions, or reach out directly to the consultant in your field via our Meet the Team page.