A small study found that a stem cell-derived treatment helped people with Type 1 diabetes produce their own insulin and, in most cases, enabled patients to discontinue use of external insulin altogether.
The research, published June 20 in The New England Journal of Medicine, consisted of a phase 1-2 clinical trial testing zimislecel, an allogeneic stem cell-derived islet-cell therapy in 14 patients with Type 1 diabetes.
After one year of receiving cell infusions, 12 participants had stable blood sugar levels without severe hypoglycemic episodes, and 10 participants no longer needed to take exogenous insulin altogether.
Side effects included neutropenia in three individuals, and two participants died during the study, one from fungal meningitis and one from complications of preexisting dementia.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals, the maker of zimislecel, funded the study.
