Current Research into Cures for Type-1 Diabetes: Possible Cures for Type-1 in the News (late June)

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Possible Cures for Type-1 in the News (late June)

Low Dose Naltrexone starts a Phase-I Trial

Background
Naltrexone was approved in 1984 for use in treating heroin addiction, but was never widely used, because of strong side effects. The low dosage level is one tenth the dose approved, so it is much lower, and doesn't have these strong side effects. Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) is undergoing several clinical studies aimed at different diseases.

Here is how the researchers describe this trial:

The purpose of this early study is to see if a drug called naltrexone should be studied more in people with Type I diabetes and hypoglycemia unawareness. This study will show whether naltrexone could reduce hypoglycemia unawareness. The study will also show, by using magnetic resonance imaging (also called MRI), whether naltrexone changes the way blood flows in the brain when a person is experiencing hypoglycemia.

Discussion
I'm not sure if I'm going to follow this trial as a potential cure, because it seems to be focused very specifically on "hypoglycemia unawareness", and that is not a cure. On the other hand I mention it here, because I know that some people are very interested in Low Dose Naltrexone, and it is the first time LDN has been tried on type-1 diabetes. Unfortunately, they are going going to be measuring blood flow in the brain, and too-low blood sugar events. Some people think that LDN might result in lower insulin requirements, and producing more natural insulin. However, this trial is unlikely to detect that (unless they test for more things than are mentioned in their clinical trial record).

Clinical trial: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01053078
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naltrexone
Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=info&gid=342192490776

LCT's DIABCELL: Two Year Delay to General Availability

Dr. Elliot (a major player at LCT) said in a public forum:

"We do not anticipate being in the clinic before 2013 and even then in a very limited way." Source: http://islet.org/forum/messages/53927.htm

This is a two year delay compared to their previous statement (in a yearly report) saying that they hoped to be doing transplants in Russia by 2011.

Also, LCT made a very nice presentation at ADA, which you can see here:
http://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20100628/pdf/31r13z624mnx7g.pdf
The really interesting slides start on page 30 and runs to the end (although slides 22 and 27 aren't bad, either).

Artificial Pancreas Photo
Here is a link to a "puff piece" in a Boston newspaper about the "bihormonal" (glucagon and insulin) AP work:
http://www.bu.edu/today/node/11148
The reason I include it is because it starts out with a big photo of a person with this AP. Notice the five different "sets" on the person's abdomen. It's a good reminder of where AP is and is not. How far we have come with an AP, and have far we have yet to go.

Dr. Ward's Artificial Pancreas Trials
This newspaper article describes some AP trials being done in Oregon, USA:
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/press/an-artificial-pancreas-closer,1359773.html

These guys are testing a bihormonal (glucagon and insulin) AP device, similar to El-Khatib's group in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. However these guys are using a different computer algorithm to control the hardware. The key achievements include an average BG of 138 and "nighttime hypoglycemia was reduced nearly to zero". Testing was for a 24 hour period. I think that 21 people were involved. (The newspaper article says "21 experiments".)

Stem Cells
I recently came across a group of 8 stem cells experiments (mostly phase-I) which did not require long term immunosupressives. So those could be part of a future cure. For example, if Diamyd, DiaPep, or any of the anti-CD3 treatments currently in phase-III trials pan out in honeymoon diabetics, then these stem cells might extend that cure to people with established type-1 diabetes. I will devote a future posting to these Stem Cells trials. With the 3 stem cell trials that I already knew about, that's 11 total.

Joshua Levy
All the views expressed here are those of Joshua Levy, and nothing here is official JDRF or JDCA news, views, policies or opinions.
Blog: http://cureresearch4type1diabetes.blogspot.com
Web: http://joshualevy.pbworks.com/DiabetesCureReadyForHumanTrials

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My Non-Conflict of Interest Statement

For the first 10 years of running this blog, I did not work for a company doing medical research. In 2018, I started working for Bigfoot Biomedical, which is developing an "automated insulin dosing/delivery solution" (what many call an Artificial Pancreas).
I blog on research aimed at curing type-1 diabetes, and I view Bigfoot Biomedical's work as treating type-1 diabetes (not a cure at all). Therefore, I don't view this work as conflicting with my blogging. However, if you consider the kind of automated insulin dosing/delivery solution that Bigfoot is developing to be an actual cure for type-1, then this would conflict with my blogging. I think they are quite different.
I don't get paid in any way by any company working on a cure for type-1 diabetes; I never have. And that includes free samples, free travel, or free anything. I do sometimes participate in market research studies or focus groups, and they sometimes pay.
None of the hours that I have put into my blog, or the posts that I make to any web site, has ever been paid for. (Except for some very nice and heart felt thank-you emails, and those are worth more than money.)
My daughter has type-1 diabetes and participates in clinical trials. I sometimes report on trials that she participates in, but I do not reveal her participation because I consider her medical history to be private.
I sometimes "beta test" new software or devices involved in type-1 diabetes. When I'm blogging about something where I have been given special access, I say so.
In the past I have volunteered with JDRF and The NIIB Project. I currently am a fellow with JDCA. The JDRF and NIIB work was completely unpaid. JDCA has given me equipment that I use to help my blogging, and on one occasion paid for specific consulting work.