For the first time in the United States, an adult patient with severe type 1 diabetes underwent a transplant of pancreatic islets at UI Health, the University of Illinois clinic. Sixty-nine-year-old Edward Augustin III completely stopped using insulin just one week after the transplant — for the first time in decades.
Lantidra therapy is the first in the United States officially approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It involves introducing into the patient's liver donor cells that produce insulin. It is a less invasive alternative to pancreas transplantation and is suitable even for older patients.
According to the WHO, there are about 9 million people with type 1 diabetes worldwide. Today, Lantidra is the first and only officially approved islet transplantation therapy in the world for treating this disease. The new technology will help not only control diabetes but also prevent its complications.
