Investing in the Mass Marketing of Diabetes Reversal, Part One

The problem has not been reversing diabetes. Since 1999, with the breakthrough 'Edmonton Protocol,' reversal of diabetes has been clinically proven to work. More than 80 percent of diabetics undergoing this transplant surgery were 'insulin free,' after three years.

But, the hurdle which has eluded researchers thus far is the ability to provide broad commercial use of these transplant surgeries for the general population. New research may offer hope for a greater number of the 21 million diagnosed and potential diabetic sufferers.

Diabetes is the fifth leading cause of death in the United States. More than 200,000 die every year because of complications from diabetes. It is the leading cause of blindness and causes 40 percent of kidney failures. The small narrow organ behind your stomach, called the pancreas, breaks down nutrients by releasing enzymes into your small intestine. The pancreas releases insulin, which moves glucose into your cells to produce energy.

In a Type 1 diabetic, the pancreas can no longer produce insulin, and the glucose stagnates in your bloodstream instead of being moved into your body cells to produce energy. About 10 percent of all diabetic cases, known as Type 1 diabetics, are at the highest risk for heart disease, strokes, limb amputations and other vascular disease-related complications. A Type 1 diabetic must inject insulin for his or her entire life.

Before the Edmonton Protocol was developed at the University of Alberta, only eight percent of the 267 pancreatic islet cell transplant patients were able to remain free of insulin injections after a year. In Edmonton, Canadian surgeons developed a technique implanting healthy human islet cells into Type 1 diabetic patients who could then produce their own insulin.

The ten-fold success rate increase in success became the industry standard for reversing diabetes, but there was a serious problem with this procedure. Transplantations were limited to high-risk Type 1 diabetics because of supply problems.

In this case, the broad divergence between the number of diabetics ? about 80,000 per million, and the number of human donors ? roughly 22 per million, made widespread commercialization of the Edmonton Protocol impossible. There simply aren't enough human donors available. Not by a long shot ? at most, there may be less than 6,000 pancreatic donors compared to nearly 2 million Americans suffering from Type 1 diabetes.

During a typical transplant, about one million islets would be required for a successful surgery in the average person. To obtain sufficient islets cells to perform this transplant procedure, at least two pancreatic organs are needed. Additional organs could be required to help the patient's insulin production reach the desired level.

James Finch contributes to StockInterview and other publications. For a complete list of his archived articles, please visit http://www.stockinterview.com