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Gene Therapy
Researchers in Korea and Canada say they have cured Type 1 Diabetes in mice and rats using gene therapy. They took some cells out of a rat, modified them so that they produced insulin, put them back in and it cured the diabetes. Great for the rats .....

Insulin Stem-Cell Research
Scottish biotech company PPL Therapeutics, made famous for its cloned sheep Dolly, recently announced plans to use stem cells to create insulin-producing islet cells for the treatment of diabetes.

Human Trials of Artificial Pancreas'
Begin in France. Human this time - a good start! A company has begun trialling a contraption in 50 patients which is an implanted insulin pump linked to a blood glucose monitor. The company has also just got through the very strict US regulatory bodies to get approval to start US clinical trials very soon. The sensor, which delivers continuous blood glucose level readings, is implanted intravenously, while the insulin pump is implanted in the abdomen.

"Tolerance is next ... the concept is to teach the body to accept a transplant as if it were your own tissue, then we don't need the drugs ..." Jeremy Chapman, Westmead Hospital

"I think that gene therapy and islet regeneration are very exciting. My hope is that islet regeneration will make it possible to reinstate the non-diabetic function of islets without the need for immunosuppression." Deb Butterfield, Insulin Free World Foundation