“Smith, a 35-year-old nurse from London, Ontario, has Type 1 diabetes, which wipes out critical islet cells within the pancreas that produce insulin. Without them, Smith relied on vials of insulin from a pharmacy and constant vigilance to stay alive. ‘You have to pay attention to your diabetes, or you die.’

On Valentine’s Day 2023, doctors transplanted replacement islet cells, grown in a lab from embryonic stem cells, into a blood vessel that feeds Smith’s liver. By August, she no longer needed insulin. Her new cells were churning it out…

Smith is one of a dozen patients who have received a full dose of islet cells generated in a laboratory from stem cells. Eleven of the patients in the clinical trial drastically reduced taking insulin or stopped altogether, according to data presented at an American Diabetes Association meeting in June.

Despite the promise, the therapy developed by Vertex Pharmaceuticals remains in early stages, and many experts consider it a major step forward, not the finish line.

No one knows how long these cells will keep churning out insulin or whether the therapy is safe long-term until it is tested and followed up in more patients, who must take immune-suppressing drugs to prevent their body from rejecting the foreign cells.”

From Washington Post.