ViaCyte's PEC-Direct is an implant that grows insulin-producing cells from stem cells. This implant is now being used in clinical trials as a method to treat people with type 1 diabetes.
"There are limited treatment options for patients with high-risk type 1 diabetes to manage life-threatening hypoglycemic episodes," said ViaCyte president and CEO Paul Laikind.
"We believe that the PEC-Direct product candidate has the potential to transform the lives of these patients."
"We believe that the PEC-Direct product candidate has the potential to transform the lives of these patients."
Diabetes has two forms that affect people’s lifestyles in different ways. People with type 1 diabetes do not get enough insulin as their immune system attacks cells in their pancreas that produce insulin. People with type 2 diabetes produce insulin, but their body does not know how to use it. While people with type 2 diabetes can manage their disease through lifestyle changes, there is no cure yet for type 1 diabetes.
The current method of managing type 1 diabetes is through insulin injection, but it poses high risks. ViaCyte's PEC-Direct carries cells that will mature inside a person’s body and will release insulin whenever needed. Patients with type 1 diabetes will be able to avoid daily injections and will only have to take immunosuppressant medications to make sure their bodies will not reject the new cells.
Read more about this fascinating story at: http://www.sciencealert.com/we-re-one-step-closer-to-curing-type-1-diabetes-thanks-to-a-revolutionary-stem-cell-implant
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