Pig-cell therapy man loses battle with melanoma

David Collinson. Photo / Dean Purcell

David Collinson's belief that nothing was impossible will carry on through the trailblazer insulin treatment for diabetics he kick-started.

Mr Collinson died yesterday morning after a four-year battle with the skin cancer melanoma.

It was Mr Collinson's determination to find an alternative insulin treatment for diabetics like his son that eventually led to Living Cell Technologies, the stem-cell research company that now has a promising trial treatment under way.

Professor Bob Elliott, the diabetes specialist who over the past 20 years has worked with Mr Collinson on the concept of transplanting insulin-coated pig-cells from pigs to diabetics, described him as "very human" with a "great sense of fun" but someone who would not accept no for an answer.

Mr Collinson's wife, Jenny, said it had been a privilege to be part of the passion and excitement he had for his life and his work.

She said he had a huge appetite for adventure and for doing things for humanity and a vision and sense of how things were going be achieved.

"For him, nothing was impossible, and that's what drove him and excited him and challenged him on a daily basis."

Professor Elliott remembers when he met Mr Collinson in 1988.

Still reeling from his 2-year-old son's diabetes diagnosis, Mr Collinson came to Professor Elliott refusing to accept his son would have to have injections every day for the rest of his life.

"He said, 'That's not good enough, I've got money, I want you to try to come up with something better'."

And Mr Collinson, a successful importer at the time, was prepared to put everything aside to back the research.

Although reluctant at first, Professor Elliott was convinced by Mr Collinson to leave his job at Auckland University and the pair set up what was then called Diatranz.

Now, two decades later, Professor Elliott believes New Zealand is on the edge of a technological revolution based on animal-to-human transplants.