Pig cells transform diabetics' lives

Svetlana. Photo / Supplied

Six Russian diabetics who have had New Zealand pig cells transplanted into their bellies have gained a new optimism for life from the success of the pioneering treatment.

Their comments turn attention on whether Health Minister Tony Ryall will permit a long-anticipated clinical trial in eight adults with type 1 diabetes at Middlemore Hospital in South Auckland.

One of the Russian trial's participants, Svetlana, who asked that only her first name be used, said it had transformed her life.

"I am incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to have three doses," the 37-year-old said through a translator.

Svetlana and a 63-year-old man have been able to give up injecting insulin because they received the highest doses in the trial, which was partly to find the optimum dosage. Their blood-glucose levels are normal.

Professor Bob Elliott, medical director of Living Cell Technologies, the company that makes the treatment in New Zealand, said all six of the type 1 diabetes patients had improved control of their blood-sugar levels.

He met them for afternoon tea at a Moscow hotel late last year and asked what they thought of the trial.

"They were disproportionately pleased. Even the ones that had fairly minor drops of their insulin doses, their diabetes control was so much better it was no longer a major worry to them; that's what worries diabetics, they live on a knife edge.

"There was a big jump in their optimism. They all felt they were going to get better. That's a huge change in their psyche."

The usual course of the disease - which can lead to complications such as blindness, kidney failure and death - is that blood-glucose control deteriorates and patients consequently have a greater tendency towards depression.

Svetlana's comments reflect the group's. She has found new optimism and energy and her emotional lows have ended. She said her family had noticed a change in her attitude to life and she felt "normal - just like other people".

It was "almost surreal" that her blood-glucose level returned to normal after meals and she was no longer restricted by having to inject insulin.

The pig cells, taken from killed neonatal piglets from special herds, are coated in a seaweed-based gel to protect them from the human immune system without the need for anti-rejection drugs.

The cause of type 1 diabetes - which is not related to obesity - is unknown. It causes the body's immune system to kill the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, leaving patients dependent on insulin injections. Insulin is a hormone cells use to take up glucose. It is estimated there are 15,000 people in New Zealand with the disease.

Former Health Minister David Cunliffe announced last October he had approved the Middlemore trial, subject to peer review by an international expert.

Professor Elliott understands the review to have been completed and is anxiously awaiting a decision from Mr Ryall.

Mr Ryall declined to say when he would release a decision and said he was following the process set up by the previous Government.

"It's a complex matter and we are taking it seriously."