Another month, and another experimental “treatment” for type 1 diabetes, is in the news.
That’s good news…but don’t get it Too much I’m still excited. Treatment is still in the earliest stages of testing.
It was only in October that an exciting new laboratory-grown islet cell transplant treatment for type 1 diabetes produced international news by showing strong results in first patients. The results of the first phase 1/2 trial are now being published with different stem cell therapies.
New technologies include embedding devices containing pluripotent stem cells designed to grow into functional islet cells that can fully secrete insulin. An innovation from ViaCyte, a California biotechnology company focused on “developing novel cell replacement therapies as potential long-term diabetes treatments.” Manufacturers hope to further refine their techniques into “functional treatments.”
Although there are many possibilities for treatment, the patients in this study were not cured for type 1 diabetes in any case.
For one thing, blood sugar results were not impressive. Patients in this study showed only slight improvements in diabetes management outcomes. The implanted cells secreted insulin, but not many, but were unable to increase productivity according to diet. One year after receiving the transplant, the patient reduced his insulin usage by 20% and increased his range by 13%. These are great improvements, but were not statistically significant in this small sample. And even if they could replicate them, they are not close to the results they would expect from “treatment.”
In other cases, implanted devices tested by Biacet require the use of immunosuppressants. Viacayte has another similar device in the pipeline that may not require immunosuppression. This is the second device waiting for the first important test that could represent functional treatment for type 1 diabetes per day.
Daily Diabetes Illustrated (Product Images by ViaceTe); Studies show that PEC-01 cells were implanted into the producing insulin (blue), glucagon (red) and somatostatin (green).
Nonetheless, ViaceTe is celebrating the results of the exam. This is designed simply to prove that the core concept works. The embedded cells grew into insulin-secreting cells and stayed safely in the embedded device for a year, and the device itself was well tolerated by participants. In future experiments, the company will use more stem cells in the hopes of providing significant improvements in blood glucose.
Readers may be forgiven if they are skeptical. Many people with long-term diabetes have heard that treatments are “five or ten years away” since the ’70s or ’80s. When speaking with Biasite in the spring, two of the clinical development leads said they hope that their full “functional treatment” will be available “in 10 years.”
For readers eager to dive into science, research into new technologies can be found in the December issue of Cell Stem Cells and Cell Reporting Medicine. Cell Stem Cells also released comments on the new technology by two diabetes researchers. Two diabetes researchers represent the landmark that wrote the results, “Even though they have no related effects.”
“The possibility of an unlimited supply of insulin-producing cells gives hope to those living with T1D. The era of clinical application of innovative STEM cell-derived islet replacement therapy for the treatment of diabetes has finally begun.”
Progress may seem slow, but these are undoubtedly still exciting days for those keen on the news of type 1 treatments.
It was in October that Vertex, another biotechnology company, released the results of its first significant human experiment. Named VX-880, this procedure healthyly transplants healthy new laboratory-grown pancreatic islet cells into the body of a patient with type 1 diabetes. These cells sense blood glucose levels, secrete insulin in response, and send that insulin to the liver where they are used to regulate the patient’s blood glucose.
A few weeks after the news broke, the New York Times continued with the exclusive profile of Vertex’s Lucky First Patient. He still uses some insulin, but he enjoyed a significant A1C improvement to boot with a significant 91% reduction in daily insulin usage. He told the Times that the treatment was “miraculous.”
All of this recent news is about treatments that require patients to take immunosuppressive medications, ensuring the body does not reject the cells or devices that have been implanted. These drugs have serious side effects. Therefore, some people in the diabetic community are not enthusiastic about these treatments. This is because it can involve swapping health issues in one set with another. In the recent Biacete trial, the most important negative side effects were related to immunosuppressive regimens rather than treatment itself.
Treatments that require an entirely new drug regimen for immunosuppression don’t actually count as “treatment,” but they can still be a major improvement for many people with type 1 diabetes.
Both the baiacete and the apex, which appear to be in the parallel pathway, are working on more luxurious treatments where transplanted or implanted islet cells may function safely without immunosuppressive agents. These treatments will be ready for FDA assessments many years before they get there. But we watch and hope for more progress.
(TagStoTRASSLATE)A1C(T)Healing Research(T)Insulin(T)Intensive Management(T)Island Cell(T)US Food and Drug Administration(FDA)(T)Biacite
