Twenty years ago, David Collinson's son was diagnosed with Type...

Twenty years ago, David Collinson's son was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. The clothing importer set out on a mission to find a cure and build an industry.

Collinson is a founding director of Auckland company Living Cell Technologies which yesterday was granted permission by the Government to re-start human trials on pig cell transplants halted in New Zealand in 1997.

The treatment involves taking insulin-producing cells from the pancreas of pigs, coating them with a seaweed-based gel and using a minor operation to insert them into a patient's abdomen.

Living Cell aims to have its first product aimed at Type 1 diabetes available late next year or early 2010.

ASX-listed Living Cell had revenue of A$1.4 million ($1.58 million) for the year ending June 30 and made a A$6.8 million net loss, although Collinson expected the company to spend about A$2 billion on infrastructure during the next 10 years.

"That would supply around about 100,000 diabetes patients a year and give us an income of about $4 or $5 billion a year," he said.

"The company itself won't need to rush out to the market and raise A$2 billion. The money will come from a market-driven demand by the patients."

There are about 15,000 people in New Zealand with Type 1 diabetes and about 30 million in the western world.

The funding would come from pharmaceutical companies, large institutional investors, government and income.

"What the approval does is it makes it easier for the larger New Zealand institutions to realise that it's going to happen in the Western world and it makes it a lot more credible as an investment opportunity."

Health Minister David Cunliffe said it was critical new technology that could make New Zealand a world leader in the treatment of diabetes and the use of xenotransplantation.

Living Cell's share price closed up 6c yesterday at A20c.

The company has all its facilities in New Zealand including pig farms in Invercargill and Auckland, laboratories and manufacturing facilities in South Auckland and during the next three to five years most production was expected to be in New Zealand.

New Zealand did not make money from the fact its animals and plants had the lowest virus profile in the world, Collinson said.

"We are the ultimate place in the world to build an industry out of turning pigs and other animals into medical grade use," he said.

"We have an opportunity to build a multibillion-dollar industry and it's sitting there, it's not like it's a dream, it's a real reality now."

The company was also working on a treatment for Parkinson's disease and Collinson said there were about 2500 disorders that could be treated with animal cell therapy.

The company ran a Type 1 diabetes trial in Russia early last year involving six people who all showed major improvement in diabetic management, with one patient freed from using insulin for five months, Collinson said.

"The end product eventually will probably be getting people off insulin completely but that's not the main aim at present."

The aim now was to enable better control of the condition.


Cheers

SW