By Lynn Allison From Newsmax

A team of researchers claim it has found an alternative treatment that cures diabetes. The new mode of treatment involves implanting a bio-artificial pancreas under the skin using local anesthesia during an outpatient procedure, which would not only help monitor blood sugar levels in the body but also detect the amount of insulin that each patient needs and release it into the bloodstream.

According to the World Health Organization, half a billion people have diabetes and about 160 million of them are insulin dependent.

“This is a new way to treat diabetes,” said Dr. Nikolai Kunicher. “Today, you only have ways to manage the disease. This is a cure. The diabetic pancreas has lost the function of secreting insulin and we give it back. The patient should never have to inject insulin into his body again.”

Kunicher, CEO of Betalin Therapeutics, and his team developed the first bio-artificial pancreas composed of pig’s lung tissue and insulin secreting cells, according to an article published in The Jerusalem Post. The entrepreneurs claim that their invention could hit the market as early as within the next few years.

The artificial pancreas works by connecting with the patient’s blood vessels and measuring the blood sugar levels in order to secrete the right amount of insulin needed to balance blood sugar.

The innovative pancreas has been successfully examined in animal clinical trials and the researchers hope that human trials will begin within the next year. Betalin Therapeutics was founded in 2015 and has two famous Nobel laureates on its board, Professor Arieh Warshel and Professor Sidney Altman. Altman suffers from diabetes and his hope it that the new device could be utilized to help patients.

“I have type 2 diabetes and right now, I take two injections per day of insulin and this new product will eliminate that. People won’t have to take insulin anymore. I won’t have to take two injections a day. I’ll just have an implant.”

The downside of the new product is that it may have to be replaced every several months and could be pricey — up to $50,000. In mice it lasted 90 days.

Dr. Daniel Lorber, a leading endocrinologist from New York who is affiliated with New York Presbyterian-Queens Hospital, tells Newsmax: “It’s a long way from pig tissue to successful treatment for people. Nevertheless, if this approach works. It will have a major impact on people with diabetes.”

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