Monday, July 21, 2008 | The article about a potential cure for juvenile diabetes immediately caught my eye, because I have had the disease for more than 46 years. However, the details disappointed me. The article said, “In Baetge’s laboratory, the insulin-making cells kept blood sugar in check in mice after the mice’s own insulin-making cells were destroyed by scientists.”
In other words, the mice did not have a naturally occurring form of juvenile diabetes. In the disease I have, the body continues to produce beta cells, but the immune system keeps attacking them. So I don’t have much hope for Novocell’s approach to a cure.
Also, the article quotes the doctor as saying, “the converted cells weren’t fully mature and behaved more like beta cells in a human fetus, which also don’t respond to glucose until after the baby is born.”
That’s not true. I almost died of insulin shock when I was about three months pregnant with my second child because he started secreting insulin, more than enough for an adult. I this company is on the wrong track, unfortunately. Otherwise, I’d be first in line to sign up for the clinical trials.