Posted by Al Gordon on June 08, 1999 at 23:01:55:
In Reply to: More good news posted by Therese B. on June 07, 1999 at 23:25:06:
This is wonderful news, and great credit is deserved by everyone who was part of it. But why only immune tolerance? What about immunoisolation (encapsulation), the only technology that does not have any impact on the immune system? How many years will it take before anyone is ready to permanently alter their child's immune system with anti-CD40-ligand?
I hate to say it, but this decision smacks of rewarding researchers more than taking a focused, results-driven approach to curing type 1 diabetes. So far, immune tolerance has been almost totally ineffective in protecting xenografts. Even if it is 100% successful in protecting islet allografts, almost nobody with diabetes will ever see the benefit. I imagine the next thing will be tens of millions of dollars for human islet proliferation, and another decade of broken promises.
Why can't we get over the tendency to chase everything that sounds good at the expense of what is actually starting to work?
Once again, it's the researchers that are calling this agenda, not people with diabetes.
Al