Type 1 diabetes is a chronic autoimmune disease that requires lifelong management. Patients must administer insulin daily - either through multiple injections or continuous infusion via an insulin pump - to maintain glucose control. Only one approved cellular therapy currently exists that can eliminate the need for daily insulin injections in a subset of patients.
Known as Lantidra and developed by CellTrans Inc., this islet cell therapy, administered as a single infusion into the hepatic (liver) portal vein, is intended for a subset of type 1 diabetes patients with severe hypoglycemia. However, because the treatment functions essentially as a transplant, patients must take lifelong immunosuppressive medications to prevent their immune system from rejecting the transplanted cells. Lifelong use of immunosuppressive drugs can lead to several significant side effects, including increased vulnerability to infections and a higher risk of certain cancers.
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