If antiviral treatment is efficient in halting the disease progression, it will be to great benefit for the participating patients. Maintenance or even an increase in beta cell mass due to regeneration will lead to improved endogenous insulin production and give a milder course of the disease with improved glycemic control. This will in a substantial way improve the long-term prognosis with less severe long term vascular complications.Some patients may have close to complete remission and be able to stop insulin treatment. If antiviral treatment is effective, it would add proof to the concept that type 1 diabetes in its origin is a viral disease. This would be an important milestone in medical research and a breakthrough in the understanding of the etiopathogenesis of autoimmune diseases. It may promote the development of vaccines to prevent the disease. T1D seems more aggressive in children than in adults, and the beta cell function decline rapidly compared to adults. As a consequence, the effect of antiviral treatment will potentially be more significant in children than in adults. Children have higher HbA1c which increases the risk of complications. Thus, T1D is a more aggressive disease in children than in adults and hence it's important to do this study in children. Pharmaceuticals are usually studied in different age intervals, commonly 1-6 years, 6-12 years and 12-15 years. For safety reasons and simplicity, the investigators want to start with the two older groups. The investigators will treat the participants with two antiviral medications (Pleconaril and ribavirin) or placebo in a double blind, randomized, placebo controlled, parallel group study. Pleconaril has previously been given in doses of 5-10mg/kg x 2-3 in clinical trials in children, thus achieving serum levels high enough for killing the majority of the viruses. The investigators have, due to the long treatment period, reduced the doses to 5 mg/kg x 2. Ribavirin will be given in dosages according to Summariy of product characteristics (SmPC). The investigators have chosen to administer Investigational Medicinal Product (IMPs) as an oral solution as this will make it easier to give the medication according to weight.
A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study in 96 children and adolescents age 6-15 newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes to describe the influence of antiviral treatment (Pleconaril and Ribavirin) on progression of disease and residual insulin secretion.