We're another step closer to reducing the need for round-the-clock insulin injections to manage diabetes after a new study showed how insulin-producing cells could be regenerated in the pancreas.
      • @[email protected]
        12•5 months ago

        It might in European markets. Lifelong illness isn’t a money maker here. And if it’s available here it might become available in Murcia.

      • Io Sapsai 🌱
        5•5 months ago

        Eh… it might. Harvoni and its relatives are a cure for HepC. They charge about a lifetime’s worth of liver treatment for a 3 month supply after which you’re most likely cured. Over here one course of Harvoni is worth over 110 average monthly supplies of Humira (a rather expensive biological blockbuster RA/Crohn’s drug). Insulin costs 5-10 times less depending on the user… I’m comparing apples to orange but you probably get the idea. Chronic illness is profitable but curing it yields a higher margin as your patient will likely survive the full course.

        If/when it hits the market the pricetag would be about a lifetime’s+ supply of insulin probably.

  • Waldowal
    1•5 months ago

    This is cool, but seems to only be half the solution. Other ways to regenerate beta cells have already been found. The problem is the antibodies that cause the diabetes (Type 1) in the first place will just kill these new cells. Without immunosuppressive drugs, my understanding is that it will be “days” before the cells are dead. With immunosuppressive drugs, you might get weeks, but you’ll also be sick all the time due to the drugs. That’s why these approaches have not been seen as viable so far. At least not by themselves.

    Case in point, I recently read about another approach that focuses on implanting beta cells within a protective sponge that let’s the insulin out while keeping the antibodies away.