Subscription Center
Jul 23, 2009 03:55 PM | 4
.jpg)
On Thursday the New Zealand-based Living Cell Technologies began giving type 1 diabetes patients a pig cell treatment, which promises to suppress disease symptoms.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), roughly 18 million people suffer from the disease, which is characterized by an inability of the body to produce insulin. This failure stems from destruction of islet cells—cells that reside in the pancreas and produce insulin—by a misdirected immune attack.
The company is harvesting islet cells from neo-natal pigs, encapsulating them in an algae-derived gum that protects the pig cells from being rejected by the person’s immune system. Studies on 10 subjects are currently underway in Russia, and now eight patients will be given the product, called Diabecell, in the New Zealand studies.
“This is a totally new way of treating diabetes, and it is aimed essentially at normalizing blood glucose levels so that people with diabetes can live as normal of life as possible,” Paul Tan, CEO of the company, told the New Zealand based Prime News, in a video posted on the company's Web site.
Some scientists argue that the technique is risky, because it allows the potential for viruses and other infections to cross species. But the company claims to have new pig-breeding facilities that are pathogen-free, so that pigs will not come into contact with infectious organisms.
Martin Wilkinson, past chairman of the New Zealand Bioethics Council, told Ray Lilley of the Associated Press that the risk of such a crossover is “very small” and “low enough to be managed by human recipients.”
Clinical trials for the product actually started 13 years earlier, but the New Zealand government quickly put it on hold while a bioethics council investigated, eventually giving consent earlier this year. One patient who got injected in that early attempt, Michael Heyler, appears to be doing well; the pig cells were still making insulin in his body, according to his interview with Prime News.
To date there have been very few examples of such successful xenotransplantation, the transfer of tissue between species. If Diabecell continues to prove effective, the company hopes to have it on the market in three years at a cost of $100,000 per patient.
Image of baby pigs by Xirzon via flickr
Tags:
insulin,
diabetes,
pigs
More News Blog:
Next: Counterfeit drugs continue to threaten lives in developing countries
Previous: Contrary to past thinking, the simian version of HIV can kill chimpanzees
See what we're tweeting about
BoraZ James Moeser and the importance of media literacy http://t.co/RkRgw2oQYr BoraZ The Cave Bear and Climate Change http://t.co/eIJII2oxnN
DNLee5 #DispatchesDNLee 2nd field traps baited & set. Lots of bait completely consumed during pre-baiting. I hope I dont... http://t.co/PBcyr0Ew4o
Deadline: Jul 30 2013
Reward: $100,000 USD
The Seeker desires a method for producing pseudoephedrine products in such a way that it will be extremely difficult for clandestine che
Deadline: Jun 29 2013
Reward: $7,000 USD
The Seeker for this Challenge desires proposals for chemical methods that could rapidly degrade a dilute aqueous solution
Powered By: 
YES! Send me a free issue of Scientific American with no obligation to continue the subscription. If I like it, I will be billed for the one-year subscription.
4 Comments
Add Comment"pig-breeding facilities that are pathogen-free" Really, that is quite a claim. Are they happy too?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGiven that the pigs are worth $100,000 each they are probably the happiest and most well-cared-for pigs in history. Why skimp on that? It's not like they are being used for $4/kilo bacon.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe islet cells are being harvested from neonatal pigs according to this article. It doesn't specify whether the process sacrifices the piglets or if these cells can be harvested multiple times. Meaning the real question is what happens to the piglets after the process is preformed.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNot that it matters in the long run. Human suffering with our advanced CNS has always had much more gravity in peoples minds than the well-being of other mammals.
Hopefully this can be extended to type 2 diabetes and relive me of the tasks it requires. The piglets must be eaten after the sacrifice! Wasting them in any other way would offend the Gods! Waste not want not, and in a hungry world, be charitable where possible! Corporatism in the U.S. feeds many, but starves millions more for a ROI! Join the campaign to stop this horrible and inhumane process! Stop land mines and exploitation for Oil! Support medical research with all your heart and expect population control as the Chinese already do, to become a "National" responsibility!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this