Getty images Most diabetes patients have either type 1, which is managed with insulin injections, or type 2, treated with other medications. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are part of a national research network aiming to discover rare forms of diabetes as a first step toward providing more effective treatments for forms of the disorder that don't fit neatly into either type 1 or type 2. Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis is part of a national research network aiming to discover rare forms of diabetes as a first step toward providing more effective treatments. Most patients diagnosed with diabetes have either type 1, which is managed with insulin injections because patients can’t make their own insulin, or type 2, in which patients either don’t make enough insulin or don’t respond well to the insulin their bodies produce. People with type 2 diabetes are treated with medications.