Vincent Creek Falls, Mason County, WashingtonDiabetes Breakthrough: FDA-Approved Drugs Regenerate Insulin Production in 48 Hours
Excerpt:
.....The breakthrough was made by getting pancreatic ductal progenitor cells – that give rise to the tissues lining the pancreas’s ducts – to develop to mimic the function of the β-cells that are usually ineffective or missing in people with type 1 diabetes.
Researchers, led by a team from the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute in Australia, investigated a new use for drugs already approved by the FDA that target the EZH2 enzyme in human tissue. Ordinarily, this enzyme controls cell development, providing an important biological check on growth.
Crucially, the new cells can sense glucose levels and adjust insulin production accordingly – just like β-cells. In type 1 diabetes, which the study focuses on, the original β-cells are mistakenly destroyed by the body’s immune system, which then means blood glucose and insulin must be managed with regular injections.
The tests carried out by the team showed the same reaction in tissue samples taken from two individuals with type 1 diabetes aged 7 and 61, and one aged 56 without diabetes, suggesting it can work across the generations. Another positive sign is that it took just 48 hours of stimulation before regular insulin production resumed.
.....Around 422 million people are thought to be living with diabetes worldwide, relying on manually checking and managing blood sugar levels. It’s still early days for this research, with clinical trials still to come, but it’s another potential way to coax the human body to replace the functions that diabetes takes away.
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Call me skeptical. Basing research findings on results of 3 people, weak IMO. Encouraging in that it gives an avenue to do ‘real’ clinical research to see if the results support what they are claiming, but FDA approving based on this reminds one of the Covid MrNA shots. Notice they didn’t name or mention the drug used. With such small pool guess they didn’t want a new craze for people looking for cures. Do not trust the science with this type of research.
Vincent Creek Falls, Mason County, WashingtonMy bad....it says an FDA approved drug which is left unnamed not a new drug developed for Type 1 diabetes. Still questionable research to base conclusions/results on 3 people.
“Here, two small molecule inhibitors called GSK126 and Tazemetostat – already approved for use in cancer treatments – were used to take off some of the brakes imposed by EZH2, allowing the progenitor ductal cells to develop functions similar to those of β-cells.”
Nature is top-tier scientific journal.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41392-023-01707-x
ex vivo study, but promising and easy to move forward with evaluating as drug already FDA approved.
~Easy to evaluate cancer patient data for glucose changes (hypoglycemia).
Canada vows to defend its drug supply against Florida importation plan
Excerpt:
Canada issued a warning Monday that it stands ready to defend its prescription drug supply from US importation plans—and also said the plans wouldn’t work for the US, anyway. “Bulk importation will not provide an effective solution to the problem of high drug prices in the US,” Health Canada said in a statement.
The defensive stance comes just days after the US Food and Drug Administration granted Florida authorization to directly import cheaper prescription drugs from Canada in an effort to help drag down America’s uniquely stratospheric drug pricing. Florida is the first state to win such an authorization, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis celebrated it, claiming the drug imports will save the state “up to $180 million in the first year alone.” There are caveats, though. Before Florida can import any drugs, it must complete several obligations, including submitting to the FDA additional drug-specific information, testing the drugs for authenticity and FDA compliance, and relabeling them in accordance with FDA labeling.
The FDA authorized the importation program in accordance with section 804 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act). The move stems from President Biden’s “Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy,” which directed the FDA to help develop such programs.
“The FDA is committed to working with states and Indian tribes that seek to develop successful section 804 importation proposals,” FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said in the agency’s authorization announcement. “These proposals must demonstrate the programs would result in significant cost savings to consumers without adding risk of exposure to unsafe or ineffective drugs.”
Proponents of the program in the US say that importing cheaper drugs from abroad could help lower US drug prices by offering more competition on the market. Canada, like other countries, has lower drug prices than the US, partly because the country’s national health system negotiates prices for prescription drugs. The US government only began negotiating prices last year—and is currently being sued by several pharmaceutical companies over the move.
ut Canada, which has a population around nine times smaller than the US, has been staunchly opposed to the US importing its drugs. It has repeatedly said that diverting medicines to the US could lead to drug shortages in Canada, make existing shortages worse, and/or cause price spikes.
.....Drug makers in the US also intend to fight the plans. Stephen Ubl, CEO of the powerful trade group PhRMA—Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America—said in a statement that the group is “deeply concerned with the FDA’s reckless decision to approve Florida’s state importation plan” and claimed importation “poses a serious danger to public health.” Ubl concluded that “PhRMA is considering all options for preventing this policy from harming patients.”
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