China has discovered a way to cure diabetes with stem cell therapy, eliminating the need for insulin.
For the first time in the world, scientists in China have successfully cured type 1 and type 2 diabetes in humans using stem cell therapy — a technology that uses cells from the patient’s own body.
According to the China Morning Post, a 25-year-old woman suffering from type 1 diabetes was given insulin-producing cells made from her own body cells.
After 75 days, she no longer needed insulin injections. A 59-year-old man with type 2 diabetes also underwent the same treatment. Within 11 weeks, he no longer needed insulin, and after a year, he was free of all diabetes medications.
This could be a major change in the medical world. But while many scientists are applauding the discovery, major American drug companies are less than thrilled. Why? Because the insulin business in America is huge, worth over 300 trillion rupiah. If a treatment were to truly cure diabetes, businesses that rely on lifelong medication could be disrupted.
Source: Shanghai Changzheng Hospital, Center of Excellence for Molecular Cell Science under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Renji Hospital. These findings are also described in detail in the journal Cell Discovery.
