This seems pretty cool, no immunosuppression required. Check out the link…
http://www.lctglobal.com/Product-Pipeline/Diabecell/
I looked into it. How cool is that. Hopefully we can see more in the future.
I’ve been following this for years. Its the one thing that hasn’t had any real stumbling blocks. consistently their reports are promising, and as we speak they are preparing for commercialisation of their product ‘diabecell’. many people were convinced encapsulated cells would not work, but their approach was completely new using a sea-weed derived gel and islet cells from ‘clean’ pigs, located on a remote island off of new zealand. They have taken these pigs and are breeding them in a sterile environment. The current cost of treatment is US $100,000 in Russia, cost is sure to fall dramatically once popularity picks up. The first person to receive this treatment was in 1996, and today the cells are still producing insulin. They believe they can make type 1’s insulin independent, but not indefinitely…it could last 10 years, 15,20+ who knows…
I believe they may have made one woman insulin independent, but so far only improvement in glycemic control and reduction of insulin for most. But they were not using as many islets as they would need for insulin independence. They were supposed to increase the amount of islets transplanted. Have not heard anything about the latest results. I agree, this seems to be the best treatment that may be available… even if islet transplants have to be repeated every five years or so. But isn’t this still in the experimental stage? LCT is not offering this as a therapy yet, even at the projected price?
Wow, these diabeportmanteaus are really starting to reach. Now they just need to find a way to make islets out of corn or soybeans that burn out and need to be replaced after a day’s use. Ok, ok seriously though, of the various efforts going on out there, I’ve always thought this was our best bet.
LCT has been on many peoples radar for some time. Their next round of trials may offer more Insulin Independence which is what we idealy want. I think they will eventually prevail with this treatment though it may be unafordable for the masses even if the price becomes lower. As far as Insurance covering something like that in the future I am not sure what to think but if this new supposed health care reform becomes a reality it will help millions with pre-exsisting conditions. I haven’t had INS for nealy a decade now. Also look out for Exsulin and CureDM for a possible regenerative treatment and of course Smart Insulin which should be close to starting human trials.