When I was a medical journalist one word I always shied away from was “breakthrough”. There are few true breakthroughs in medicine. Usually any advance is the result of years and years of work. That’s why good science takes time; it takes hundreds of small steps to make a giant leap forward.
Today we took one of those steps. ViaCyte, a company we have supported for many years, just announced that the first patient has been successfully implanted with a device designed to help treat type 1 diabetes.
It’s an important milestone for the company, for us, and of course for people with type 1 diabetes. As Dr. Paul Laikind, the President and CEO of ViaCyte, said in a news release, this is an exciting moment:
“To our knowledge, this is the first time that an embryonic stem cell-derived cell replacement therapy for diabetes has been studied in human subjects, and it represents the culmination of a decade of effort by the ViaCyte team, our collaborators, and our supporters at the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine and at JDRF.”
The VC-01 device is being tested in a clinical trial at the University of California, San Diego Health System. There are two goals; first to see if it is safe; and secondly to see if it helps patients who have type 1 diabetes. When the device is implanted under the skin the cells inside are able to sense when blood sugar is high and, in response, secrete insulin to restore it to a healthy level.
The beauty of the VC-01 is that while it lets cells secrete insulin out, it prevents the body’s own immune system from getting in and attacking the cells.
The device is about the length and thickness of a credit card but only half as wide which makes it easy to implant under the skin.
Today’s news, that this is now truly out of the lab and being tested in patients is an important step in a long road to showing that it works in patients. The people at ViaCyte, who have been working hard on this project for many years, know that they still have a long way to go but for today at least, this step probably feels a little bit more like a skip for joy.
The Stem Cellar 
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What are the criteria for cell therapy? Do I need a referral? does insurance cover the cost? Thanks for your help
Hi Rohenie, you can apply directly to be part of a clinical trial if you know who is running it, or you can ask your doctor to give you a referral. Both ways work. Insurance doesn’t cover the cost of a clinical trial but if it’s a trial that has been given the go-ahead by the Food and Drug Administration you may not have to pay for the treatment, only for some other things like travel or accommodation. Once a therapy is approved by the FDA it’s possible that insurance may cover it.