New Hope for People with Severe Type 1 diabetes
A new stem cell treatment may have helped 10 out of 12 people with the most serious form of type 1 diabetes stop using insulin completely. One year after getting the treatment, those 10 patients no longer needed insulin shots. The other two now use much smaller doses.
The treatment, called zimislecel, was developed by a company called Vertex Pharmaceuticals. It uses special lab-grown cells made from stem cells that act like the insulin-producing cells normally found in the pancreas. These new cells are given to patients through an infusion and travel to the liver, where they start helping to control blood sugar.
This treatment is still experimental and has not yet been approved by the FDA. The results were presented at a major diabetes conference and published in a respected medical journal.
The study focused on people with a rare complication of type 1 diabetes called hypoglycemic unawareness. These patients don’t feel warning signs—like shakiness or sweating—when their blood sugar drops, which can lead to dangerous episodes where they faint, have seizures, or even die.
Within a few months of receiving the new cells, most patients in the study needed less insulin, and many stopped taking it entirely after about six months. Episodes of dangerously low blood sugar also stopped within the first 90 days.
One patient in the study, a nurse from Canada, said she no longer needs insulin and feels like she has a “whole new life.”
However, patients must take medicine to keep their immune system from attacking the new cells. These drugs carry risks, including infections and, possibly, increased cancer risk over time. Some people decided not to join the trial because of this.
The treatment comes from decades of research by Dr. Doug Melton, a scientist whose children were diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. He spent over 20 years trying to find a cure, and now his discovery is helping real people.
If more studies show similar results, the company plans to apply for FDA approval in the near future.
We continue to see more advances in regenerative medicine as treatments. Please watch this space as the innovations move forward.
Our Editorial Note: Above is our brief summary of a recent article from the New York Times. Contact us if you would like to learn more about regenerative medicine and how it may help patients with their medical conditions.
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