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Stem cell therapies involve replacing diseased or dysfunctional cells with healthy ones.
#STEM CELL TREATMENT FOR DIABETES TYPE 1 COST HOW TO#
This work is complex because investigators needed to figure out how islet cells were created naturally inside the pancreas, then sort out how to program embryonic stem cells to grow into islet cells in the lab, a process that’s unique for every type of cell in the body. Researchers working to eradicate type 1 diabetes spent years fine-tuning a process to convert embryonic stem cells into functional islet cells. Scientists thought embryonic stem cells might be the answer because they can in theory be transformed into any type of human cell in a lab.
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RELATED: Type 1 Diabetes May Be 2 Different Diseases, Early Study Suggests Making Islet CellsĮarly work on VX-880 began more than a decade ago with a basic question: Could scientists find a way to replace dysfunctional islet cells in the pancreas with cells capable of making insulin? “It will be very expensive to start with I’d guess,” says Heller, who has received research funding and consulting fees from companies that sell drugs and devices to treat diabetes. Vertex has been criticized for selling medicines that cost several hundred thousand dollars annually, a practice the company defends as necessary to support research and development of new drugs. Insurance might not cover the treatment, and copays might be steep if it is covered. This means it’s far too soon to ask your doctor about whether stem cell therapy might work for you or a loved one living with type 1 diabetes.Īnd even if this drug does one day reach the market, it’s unclear how easy it would be for you to access or afford it. “It has promise, but it should not be regarded as a likely treatment option, probably for some years,” Dr. with no connection to Vertex or the trials, agrees. Simon Heller, MD, a diabetes researcher and a clinical professor at the University of Sheffield in the U.K. Buse, who has no connection to Vertex or these trials, also cautions that much longer trials with far more patients will be needed before we can really tell how safe or effective this therapy might be - or whether it would be appropriate to use for every patient who has type 1 diabetes. “VX-880 is potentially game-changing therapy,” says John Buse, MD, PhD, the chief of endocrinology and the director of the Diabetes Center at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill.īut Dr. After three months of stem cell therapy, the patient used 2.9 units of insulin daily and their A1C levels dropped to 7.2 percent, a level that still signifies diabetes but is improved. Before starting treatment, this patient used 34 units of insulin daily and had an A1C level, which reflects average blood sugar levels over about three months, of 8.6 percent, indicating dangerously high blood sugar. To prevent this, people with type 1 diabetes have to regularly inject insulin to manage their blood sugar.įor the first patient in these VX-880 trials, 90 days of stem cell therapy dramatically reduced both blood sugar levels and the need for daily insulin shots, according to the preliminary results released by Vertex. Without functional islet cells to make insulin, sugars rise to dangerously high levels in the bloodstream. Insulin is a hormone that helps convert sugars in our bloodstream into energy that fuels our body. Then, in October, the company shared preliminary results from the first of 17 patients to be included in these trials.Īll the patients in these trials have type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease that develops when the body attacks and destroys insulin-making islet cells in the pancreas. The company developing the drug, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, announced the initiation of the first human trials for this stem cell therapy in March. The experimental treatment that has all the buzz right now is so early in development it doesn’t even have an official name - it’s just called VX-880. Because there’s no cure and no simple way to treat this chronic disease, it’s easy to understand why people might get excited about an experimental stem cell therapy that appears to reverse the condition - even if it has worked for only a few months in a single patient. Type 1 diabetes management is a lifelong job that can’t be eliminated by lifestyle changes or any currently available drugs or medical devices.