hello everyone. wondering if anyone heard anything further… I know the scientist had two daughters with type one. and had success with an older man who for a while reversed type 1 and then nothing… anyone have anymore info
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Here is video on one recipient.
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yes this is what im talking about but it just died. no follow up no nothing. was looking for more info
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looked on the companies website … anyone here know why they changed the name? is that an indication of something>. Vertex is the company
VX-880, formerly known as STx-02, is an investigational allogeneic human stem cell-derived islet cell therapy that is being evaluated for patients who have T1D with impaired hypoglycemic awareness and severe hypoglycemia.
VX-880 involves an infusion of fully differentiated, functional islet cells, as well as the chronic administration of concomitant immunosuppressive therapy, to protect the islet cells from immune rejection.
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It’s all hippy-dippy:
And:
So, yeah, full Theranos.
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lol
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So, to make a long story long….Vertex is a drug company that historically has been the leader in Cystic Fibrosis. A few years ago, they bought a company that was developing a cure for type 1 diabetes. Their initial objective was to create islet cells in a lab and then insert these islet cells into pancreas through portal vein. The problem before was a lack of supply of islet cells as they had to come from humans. Earlier in the year, they announced success of this with a patient that I expect was already on anti-rejection drugs (maybe the person had an organ transplant). I tried to get in on the next study but was rejected because my A1c was too low. I also was not excited about taking anti rejection drugs given impact on immune system. They announced - I believe today - that they provided a half dose to one patient that was cured and a second patient had a good experience … but not as good as first. So, they extended it to another patient but used a full dose. After 30 days, that patient was doing well. Then, they announced today it was put on hold by the FDA for want of more data. The investing world cannot figure out what happened… but these holds usually are only 4 -5 months. The next step will be to encapsulate the islet cells so that people don’t have to take anti-rejection drugs. This won’t happen for a few years but will really disrupt the space in a good way. I would keep following the story.
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Name changes of biotech companies are common, and usually have something to do with the business/finance end of things. It does not necessarily reflect upon the relative merits of the technology, one way or the other.
Rather than starting a new thread, I thought I’d add this bit of news. Therapeutically related although it could well be another company / lab that succeeded here. This comes from a substack called “Weekly Dose of Optimism” and was forwarded by a friend.
(1) Chinese scientists develop cure for diabetes, insulin patient becomes medicine-free in just 3 months
From the Economic Times
Chinese scientists achieve diabetes cure through innovative cell therapy, detailed in Cell Discovery. Patient, treated in July 2021, no longer requires insulin after eleven weeks, and is now medication-free for 33 months. The breakthrough, praised by Timothy Kieffer, signifies a major advancement in diabetes treatment. This novel approach utilizes the body’s regenerative abilities and could alleviate China’s healthcare burden. Further studies are needed for validation.
[Following is the commentary from the substack person… not me!]
… a new cell therapy may not only treat, but fully cure diabetes in patients. The new therapy programs the patient’s blood cells to recreate pancreatic islet tissue, restoring pancreatic function and eliminating the need for insulin and oral medication. The approach harnesses the body’s ability to regenerate damaged tissues.
While the potential cure has worldwide implications, it could have a particularly large impact in China. 140 million people in China have diabetes, and about 40 million rely on insulin injections. That’s a ton of people and assuming each patient gets one daily injection (which is a conservative estimate), that’s 14.6B insulin injections each year in China. And with an estimated production cost of $3-$6 per injection, China is spending $45-$90B each year on insulin injections. The new cell therapy could significantly reduce the need for insulin and, in the process, lower the cost burden and improve the quality of life for millions of patients.
To be clear, this result was for one patient. It’s likely very expensive. The result will need to be replicated in more patients and cell therapies will need to become less expensive before we get too excited about diabetes being cured.
But it’s a great example of why Elliot wrote that cell therapies will be Medicine’s Endgame, and of the importance of figuring out solutions to the bottlenecks in cell therapy manufacturing.
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I assume this is the paper: “Treating a type 2 diabetic patient with impaired pancreatic islet function by personalized endoderm stem cell-derived islet tissue” (Wu, Li, Guo, et al., 2024). It can be read here:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41421-024-00662-3
A nice preliminary result with potential for overcoming the immunologic problems with stem cell transplantation, albeit in a single patient.
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I believe the production cost for a 10mL vial of insulin is $3 to $6. Vial, not injection.
Better not believe anything that substack commenter says. The substack writer’s shortcomings don’t shed light on whether the actual Chinese paper has presented a useful cure for diabetes…
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I see promise in these techniques to at least temporarily give normal glucose management in those with type 1 diabetes mellitus. Where I think that more research resources should be is to find a way to reprogram the immune system to prevent the destruction of the new Beta cells.
This could be a boon for the millions of people who suffer from many other autoimmune diseases. I think worth of the Nobel prize in medicine.
In my opinion a cure for T1DM would require two things, a process to generate an individuals Beta cells from their stem cells and a reprogrammed immune system that no longer targets Beta cells.
This would eliminate the need for dangerous and life long immunosuppressant drugs and the regular replacement of Beta cells.
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@CarlosLuis While I agree with you on all counts, I read an article yesterday about a UK group that got 100% reliable results from a “liquid biopsy” test that predicted a return/no return of breast cancer 1.6+ years before the standard tests! I think the next decade or so will see unbelievable medical advances in disease treatments. May be too late for you and me, but for the up and coming T1s/T2s the outlook is hopeful…if the world’s politicians don’t kill us all off anyway…
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Oh, I agree. I am benefiting from several medical advances, the one that comes to mind is the circulating tumor DNA test. My last showed no tumor DNA in my bloodstream.
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