NeoIslets: Innovation Challenge Winner at ADA Scientific Session

SymbioCellTech's Innovative Diabetes Therapy Gets Us One Step Closer to Effective, Easily Tolerated Treatment of Type 1 Diabetes

NeoIslets” (™) work without the lifelong need for toxic anti-rejection drugs, which is one feature that distinguishes this therapy from other cellular replacement therapies”

— Dr. Anna Gooch

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, USA, August 13, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Researchers are one step closer to a cure for Type 1 diabetes as demonstrated by one winner of the “Innovation Challenge” award at this year’s American Diabetes Associations’ Scientific Meeting in Orlando, FL. The ADA’s Innovation Challenge is designed to further “transformative solutions for people living with diabetes, their families, and caregivers,” and SymbioCellTech, a Salt Lake City-based regenerative medicine company was one of only 3 winners honored with this award at this year’s meeting.

SymbioCellTech has developed “NeoIslets” (™), a new therapy that combines stem cells and pancreatic islet cells that enables the diabetic patient’s body to again produce adequate amounts of its own insulin. The procedure has been tested in nine autoimmune, diabetic dogs over a three-year period, and all nine dogs showed dramatic and lasting improvement in markers of Type 1 diabetes. Importantly, the therapy appeared safe and well tolerated, resulting in no significant changes in blood chemistries or cells counts. Furthermore, the usual organ damage seen in even some well-controlled diabetic patients, to kidneys, hearts, and nerves, for example, were not seen in these dog patients: the therapy appeared to help preserve renal function.

“What’s very exciting is the news that “NeoIslets” (™) work without the lifelong need for toxic antirejection drugs, which is one feature that distinguishes this therapy from other cellular replacement therapies” said SymbioCellTech’s Drs. Anna Gooch and Christof Westenfelder, the company’s lead researchers, who presented these findings at the ADA. While Antirejection drugs are required to prevent a patient from rejecting cells or organs that come from an unrelated donor, they come with many toxic and sometimes life-threatening side effects, which means that most Type 1 Diabetic (T1DM) patients cannot take advantage of the cellular therapies that are available. The risks of the antirejection drugs in most cases do not outweigh the benefits. A cellular replacement therapy that works long term and doesn’t require anti-rejection drugs is a real breakthrough – it’s a therapy that all T1DM patients would be able to use. “Because dogs with Type 1 diabetes are physiologically similar to humans, but typically require significantly more insulin than humans, we’re confident that the successful dog trials open the door to human trials and a fresh start for millions of diabetics.”

Dr. Gooch underscored that all dogs completed the trial “without any impairment or diabetes-related negative reactions,” and that daily insulin doses were reduced an average of 0.85 and up to as much as 1.2 Units of insulin per kg body weight per day. Simultaneously, serum glucose levels (reported as mg/dL, or milligrams per one-tenth of a liter) dropped by nearly 100 mg/dL, and elevated Hemoglobin A1C levels also fell to normal by an average of 4%.

Dr. Westenfelder pointed out that the “NeoIslets” (™) technology helps to overcome the serious shortage of donor organs, making it possible to greatly multiply the therapeutic value of a single donated pancreas. “This success with dogs points the way to effective, efficient, affordable and safe therapies for humans,” he added.

SymbioCellTech is in the process of its next phase of the development of the patented “NeoIslets” (™) technology for an Investigational New Drug Application (IND) from the FDA, “as soon as we can manage it,” according to Dr. Gooch. With the IND, SymbioCellTech plans to conduct the First-in-Human Clinical Trial likely at the City of Hope, UC San Diego, UCLA and UC Davis.

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ABOUT SYMBIOCELLTECH:
SymbioCellTech (SCT) is a late preclinical stage Regenerative Medicine Company based in Salt Lake City, UT. The company has created a novel NEO-ISLETS(TM) technology that is readily scalable and that will reduce, and potentially eliminate, the daily insulin injection needs of people with Type I Diabetes mellitus. The NEO-ISLET(TM) technology has demonstrated its safety and efficacy in an Investigational New Animal Drug study in diabetic dogs and offers the potential to significantly increase available doses, eliminate the need for anti-rejection drugs and is a permanent solution for diabetics.

DISCLAIMER: FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This press release contains forward-looking statements including (a) statements by Anna Gooch, Ph.D., and Christof Westenfelder, M.D., in this press release, (b) our plans, expectations for, and the potential benefits of NEO-ISLETS(™), and (c) our plans for additional research. While SymbioCellTech believes the forward-looking statements contained in this press release are accurate, these forward-looking statements represent the company's beliefs as of this press release. Risks and uncertainties could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Those risks and uncertainties include, among other things, that these data may not be indicative of final clinical trial results, that data from the company's research and development programs may not support further development of its products due to safety, efficacy, and other risks.