Small trial in US of new treatment cures people with severe diabetes

A single infusion of a stem-cell-based treatment may have cured 10 out of 12 people with the most severe form of Type 1 diabetes.

- Gina Kolata

A year later, these 10 patients no longer need insulin. The other two patients need much lower doses.

The experimental treatment, called zimislecel and made by Vertex Pharmaceuticals of Boston, Massachusetts, involves stem cells that scientists prodded to turn into pancreatic islet cells, which regulate blood glucose levels.

The new islet cells were infused and reached the pancreas, where they took up residence.

The study was presented on June 20 at the annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association and published online by The New England Journal of Medicine.

"It's trailblazing work," said Dr. Mark Anderson, professor and director of the diabetes center at the University of California, San Francisco, who was not involved in the study. "Being free of insulin is life changing."

Vertex, like other drug companies, declined to announce the treatment's cost before the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves it.