- Overview and Description of Diabetes Products
Overview. In the summer of 2000, researchers in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, reported that they were able to restore normal blood sugar levels in diabetic patients by transplanting islets obtained from organ donors. By April 2002, surgeons had treated a total of 80 patients, 70% of whom were insulin independent for at least two years, and all of whom had significantly reduced insulin requirements. The procedure, the "Edmonton Protocol," established the ability of islet replacement to eliminate insulin dependence and produce normal blood glucose levels. However, the Edmonton approach has the drawback that, for patients weighing over 155 pounds, it requires a minimum of two donated pancreases per transplant patient. Because there are at most 5,000 pancreases available annually, only a very small percentage of the eligible population can be helped.
-
Products. Our initial planned product is IxSC-1, cultured functional allogeneic islet preparations derived from IPSCs. IxSC-1 will replace the freshly transplanted islets used in the current Edmonton Protocol with our hIPSC-derived islet preparations, thereby solving today's severe shortage of donor pancreases for transplantation.
Our research indicates that NASHA may also be an effective "scaffold" for directed differentiation or trans-differentiation of IPSC and other adult stem cells.
|
