LCT Gets Russian Approval for Encapsulation Technology
LCT is in phase-I with their cure for type-1 diabetes, which is pig beta cells encapsulated so that the body’s autoimmune attack can not get them.
LCT has received Russian government approval to market their encapsulation technology. This approval does not cover the porcine beta cells inside LCT’s encapsulation tubes, but it does cover the tubes themselves. A future approval will be done for the porcine beta cells themselves. This is continued strong progress towards LCT’s stated goal of general availability of their treatment in Russia by 2011.
To put it bluntly, this puts LCT one approval away from being able to sell their treatment in Russia. Now, at the moment, their treatment is not something that I would consider a cure. However, I do believe that they will continue to improve their treatment, and I think it is possible that in 5, 10, or 20 years it will grow into something that I would consider a cure.
Note: whenever I blog about LCT, I get asked “how much will it cost?”. And the answer is: I don’t know. LCT has not announced it, and it may not be decided as yet. The whole idea of discussing the price of a treatment which you can not yet buy, for me, is putting the cart before the horse. There are many other questions about this treatment that I think are more important, especially: what percentage of patients will be cured? And, how long will the cure last? Plus there is the issue of safety of something which has not gone through either US FDA or EU EMEA approval.
Despre diabet 