Curing Type 1 Diabetes: 'Cure Diabetes Now' moves to Phase II Clinical Trials

Because research like this deserves attention...

"The Faustman Lab at Massachusetts General Hospital, run by Denise L. Faustman, MD, PhD, is moving rapidly through the clinical trial challenge to test and possibly establish a vaccine using a generic drug, Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) to reverse type 1 diabetes. The experiments have moved from mice to a clinical trial in humans,
and the testing has passed every research milestone ahead of schedule — an astonishing feat for any clinical research project. The Phase I safety trial in people with type 1 diabetes is near completion. The next step is to find, in a Phase II study, the possible dose and frequency of administration of BCG vaccinations that will benefit
patients with type 1 diabetes.

What makes these trials unique? First, unlike other immunosuppressive therapies for autoimmune diseases that harm both healthy and disease-causing T-cells, this treatment appears to provide a way to achieve “targeted removal” of only autoimmune disease-causing cells..."

Read more from the Summer/Fall 2009 Newsletter here: http://faustmanlab.org/news/news_nl.html