Semma steps toward the clinic after demonstrating effect of potential diabetes cure in landmark animal studies
The research team at the well-funded Semma Therapeutics has cleared one of the last remaining hurdles to getting a potential cure for diabetes into human studies. And if they’re right, it marks a major preclinical milestone for a resurgent regenerative medicine field focused on a new generation of stem cell therapies.
Felicia Pagliuca, VP of cell biology research and development at the Cambridge, MA-based biotech, told the 2019 International Society for Stem Cell Research meeting in LA Saturday that their stem cell-derived islets performed as hoped for — producing insulin — in a study involving non-human primates whose immune systems had been flattened to prevent a rejection. In a separate study involving two pigs, a package of these engineered islets contained in a specially designed package were used successfully to generate insulin without needing an immunosuppressant to protect against a reaction.
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