Thursday, May 1, 2014

New Diabetes Therapy to Replace Insulin Injections - MarketWatch

New Diabetes Therapy to Replace Insulin Injections - MarketWatch: Sernova's "Cell Pouch™" is an implantable medical device placed under the skin, which provides an ideal environment for the survival of therapeutic cells, which can release proteins, or hormones into the bloodstream as required. For their diabetes treatment Sernova would replace the islets that have been lost, restoring the metabolic function of the pancreas and potentially eliminating the need for insulin injections.

Of significant importance, Sernova has just released very encouraging longer term (over 180 days) interim data on its ongoing clinical trial in patients with diabetes receiving an islet transplant showing that the Cell Pouch™ with islets is safe and biocompatible far beyond the initial up to 30 day results presented in September, 2013. This data is important because it shows the Cell Pouch™ with therapeutic cells can be safely placed under the skin and is a positive sign that the Cell Pouch™ could be used for multiple diseases involving a need for a hormone or protein replacement. The earlier results also showed that the islets within the Cell Pouch™ are well connected with blood vessels and can make insulin, glucagon and somatostatin, key hormones in the control of blood sugar levels.

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