When will there be a new insulin-free diabetes treatment?
Scientists from Israel have developed a new innovative drug for the treatment of insulin-dependent diabetes. In their opinion, it will become widely available in the coming years.
The Israeli company “Therapeutics” was the first in the world to develop a living artificial pancreas. They took pig lung tissue and cells that produce insulin as the basis for the new organ. Then the artificially created organ is “implanted” into the patient’s body, attaching it to the vessels.
After that, it begins to work independently, and, depending on the level of sugar in a person’s blood, produce the required amount of insulin, thereby maintaining the patient’s general condition at a normal stable level.
The Israeli company “Therapeutics” was the first in the world to develop a living artificial pancreas. It works independently, and, depending on the level of sugar in a person’s blood, produce the required amount of insulin
Nikolay Kunichir, the general director of the developing company, noted that this development is a truly revolutionary step in the treatment of patients suffering from diabetes. Previously, therapy for this disease consisted mainly of only controlling the condition with the use of drugs, since with the progression of diabetes in the body, the normal production of insulin is disrupted. The new development of Israeli scientists makes it possible to restore it to its previous level and patients who suffer from diabetes will no longer need to do regular unpleasant injections.
The developers have already received about $ 3,500,000 for the implementation of their project called “Betalin” and are planning to receive another $ 5,000,000 by the beginning of clinical trials. According to preliminary estimates, the cost of an artificial pancreas transplant will be about $ 50,000.
About 500 million people in the world suffer from type 1 and 2 diabetes to varying degrees, with 150 million of them getting daily insulin injections.
World Health Organization
In medicine, there are many methods of treating diabetes, however, all of them are ultimately associated with the relief of symptoms. Therefore, all patients whose lives depend on insulin are immediate candidates for new treatment.
Interesting fact: The Advisory Board of the Betalin project includes the 1989 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, molecular biologist Sidney Altman.
Together with his mother, he has long been suffering from type 2 diabetes mellitus, and his brother even died of this disease. That is why he was extremely interested in the development of this project.
Therapeutics was founded 4 years ago. The Betalin project she is developing was created on the basis of the developments and research of Professor Eduardo Mitrani from the Hebrew University. In the course of his work, the scientist studied the mechanism of interaction of pancreatic cells with connective tissue. According to him, the pancreas has an unusual structure and due to certain features, it can actually be placed in any part of the body where it will fully work.
Avi Travis, head of the research department of the company, noted that the new development can be attributed to the next stage of the methodology, which is called the “Edmonton Protocol”. In accordance with it, the so-called cells of the islets of Langerhans, which were taken from a healthy donor, are introduced into the body of a diabetic. This procedure relieves the patient’s condition by an average of a couple of years.
At the same time, the artificial organ of the pancreas, developed during the Betalin project, makes it possible to achieve much more optimal and safe operation of the cells of the islets of Langerhans, due to which the therapeutic effect lasts much longer, and the procedure itself is in a sense even simpler and economically more expedient.
Today, Therapeutics company is actively negotiating with many foreign clinics and institutions that have shown high interest in a new method of “implantation” of pancreatic cells into the body of diabetics. In particular, it received a grant from the Italian government for the development of mutually beneficial partnership cooperation. In addition, three years ago, at the MIXiii Biomed conference, the Betalin project was able to receive the prestigious award as the best startup in the field of pharmacology. According to Avi Travis, the first stage of scientific research will last for about two years. After receiving positive results, it is planned to move on to obtaining the necessary permits from state regulatory authorities. The introduction of the new technology will go gradually — for a start, a new organ will be transplanted to a small group of patients, and over time, when the new technology is studied in detail, it will be introduced everywhere