Ok watched the webinar recording and can't really add to much more than what people have already said or quoted.
The recent announcement of first in man results have been part of an 11 year journey. This from a brief search
“Let’s make history”: World-first human trial the next step towards a cure for diabetes
Posted On24 May, 2022
A world-first treatment for type 1 diabetes on trial at the Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH) is showing promising results after the very first surgery was performed earlier this month.
The revolutionary new method is a small step towards a legitimate cure for type 1 diabetes and implants insulin-producing islet cells into an artificial dermis (skin) in the patient’s arm.
A game-changer
The game-changing new method is being led by Kidney and Islet Transplantation Director Professor Toby Coates AO, of the Central Adelaide Local Health Network.
Mr Alec Tibbitts was the first of three patients in a world-first three-month trial of the pioneering new treatment, which could lead to him no longer needing his daily insulin injections.
“Having been a child with diabetes, and being the parent of a child with diabetes, I’ve felt the anxiety from both angles,” said Mr Tibbitts.
“[I wanted to be] part of a small step in what could eventually be a life-changing procedure for many thousands of patients.”
A better use of rare donations
Islet cells are created in the pancreas and produce the hormones that regulate blood sugar, such as insulin.
Transplantation of islet cells into the liver can help diabetics to produce their own insulin. But with this method, about 75 per cent of transplanted islet cells, donated from cadavers, are lost in the first 24 hours. This is due to the limited supply of oxygenated blood to the liver.
“You have to process three pancreases to get one that will work, so transplanting into the liver is a very inefficient procedure,” said Professor Coates.
“So the quest around the world has been to come up with alternative sites where the cells might be more likely to survive, and that’s what led us to start working here, looking at implanting into the skin.”
Sourcing islet cells from the pancreas of deceased donors means there is a finite supply. This places a limit on the number transplants that can be performed and the number of patients who can successfully benefit.
However, by creating an oxygen rich environment outside of the liver to support the survival and functioning of islet cells, the supply of donated cells can be better utilised to provide more transplants to more patients.
This approach involves the removal of a piece of the patient’s skin in the upper arm and replacement with a piece of novel polymer foam creating an artificial dermis (skin). This newly created artificial skin site becomes highly vascularised (high blood flow) creating a similar environment to that of a person’s pancreas. Once the artificial skin site has settled after around 20 days, the site is then injected with donor insulin-producing islets cells creating an insulin producing artificial pancreas for the patient in the skin of their upper arm.
This new method could also support alternative methods of sourcing donor islet cells. Stem cell-derived islets, for instance, may be able to be differentiated in a laboratory culture and then transplanted into the skin. This would further increase the precious supply, reducing or ending the reliance on rare donor islets.
The innovative treatment is also less invasive than the liver implantation method, as it can be done under local anaesthetic, is easy to monitor or remove and is significantly less expensive. It also provides the transplanted cells with their own blood supply, which reduces the risk to the patient.
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so here we are 3 years down the track and a couple of weeks away from I think a more formal documented release validating this process.
You could, quite rightly, use this information as a part of the reasons for being or having renewed bullishness on pnv and its future.
The 5 people we heard from were a mix of energy, realism, showmanship and pragmatic approaches to their areas or responsibilities. The chair IS engaged and part of, and as someone said earlier that's far beyond most chairman's input that you see normally. I am happy / grateful that is the case.
(20min delay)