“Sana Biotechnology has shared early data for its investigational allogeneic cell therapy being studied in one patient with type 1 diabetes, sending the company’s share price up by about 200%.

The data ‘pave the way for a potentially transformative cure,’ for a disease that affects more than 1.7 million Americans, Citi analysts wrote in a Jan. 8 note.

The Seattle-based biotech is evaluating UP421, a donor-derived allogeneic primary islet cell therapy, as a type 1 diabetes treatment that doesn’t require the use of any immunosuppression. Four weeks after the cells were transplanted into the patient’s arm, the therapy had avoided immune rejection and was tied to consistent levels of c-peptide expression—a biomarker that indicates if the transplanted beta cells are producing insulin.”

From GlobeNewswire.