Allies Voice - Your Comments on the Diabetes News

Insulin that lasts for up to 4 months!

Allie B — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 21:10:29 GMT

Things are about to change! They have to if we are going to make any progress. Diabetes is due. It's time for a 'paradigm shift' in the treatments for this disease. To this end I am proud to tell you, if you haven't already heard, of the steps being taken to help make the world a better place for people affected by diabetes.

If you are concerned about your children and their future with or without diabetes - the possibility of a type I diabetes vaccine may be of real interest to you. Many companies are already in human trials and showing real promise of slowing or halting the autoimmune attack that results in type I diabetes.

Some people affected by diabetes know that their bodies are not producing insulin adequately. A new therapy that promotes islet (insulin-producing cell) regeneration is giving hope to those affected by diabetes. There is definite potential in this therapy from the human-condition angle. There is also interest from the business perspective. Some of the leaders in the insulin market (a $12 billion industry in 2009) have staked their claim in the cream of the crop!

The companies pursuing the aforementioned therapies are definitely on the right track but what about the here and now? One of the resonating slogans for the diabetes 'fight' is insulin is not a cure. You said it! Whether your beef is multiple injections or the dreadful lows -- there are companies finding ways to mitigate the frustration of an imperfect system. Praise the possibility of an anti-hypoglycemic insulin. JDRF is hot on that one! For those troubled with the multiple daily injection regimen - how would you feel about one injection providing tight control for 140+ days?

For those of you who qualify as diabetes veterans, you'll be enthused with the news of C-peptide clinical trials coming to a testing site near you. I've been harping on the benefits of C-peptide since I first read about it. Apparently when I called the American Diabetes Association they acknowledged that C-peptide was a sexy topic in the diabetes research. Sexy. Really? I was thinking more like helpful!

So these are the main areas of interest to me. Type I vaccines, islet cell regeneration, safer insulin and C-peptide. In upcoming posts I will let you know who these companies are and where they stand in their role in the paradigm shift of diabetes. Stay tuned!

Tp view the YouTube video, click the URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0KDy9ICJvc

Next Step After then Kidney Transplant

Allie B — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 20:05:00 GMT

Do over! Twenty-five years ago I was diagnosed with Type I diabetes. At the time I was diagnosed I was convinced that I would see a cure before I had to worry about things like kidney failure or blindness. Boy, was I wrong!

Here I stand, with a successful kidney transplant looking for the best way of preventing the inevitable damage diabetes dubiously inflicts on vital organs like the eyes and kidneys. Here's what I've got:

1) Islet cell transplant. There are many programs throughout the US that are looking for people who've already undergone kidney transplants and would therefore already be taking immunosuppression. Good option! Now let's wait and see if any of them want to help me.

2) Pancreas transplant. Although this seems to be the most proven here in the US -- I don't feel so hot to undergo a huge surgery following the kidney transplant. Maybe I'm just being a vane coward? Maybe I'm hopeful that there is hope for all US citizens to adopt the Canadian acceptance of the islet cell transplant? Canada has already accepted the data proving the efficacy of islet cell transplants mitigatin the deleterious effects of diabetes. The US? Not so much. Well, not yet.

3) Very excited about this option, although it is not yet approved for use. Beta cell regeneration! Three companies that I know of are in hot pursuit of the right formula to encourage regrowth of beta cells, thus restoring normal glycemia and perhaps making complications of diabetes a thing of the past. If the Big Pharmas like Sanofi-Aventis and Eli Lilly weren't already placing bets on the prophecy of success I wouldn't bat an eyelash - but these two wolfs have already assumed the position to bite as soon as a threat to decay their revenue streams is proven. Who are their prey? Transition Therapeutics http://www.transitiontherapeutics.com/, Exsulin http://www.exsulin.com/ and CureDM http://www.curedm.com/.

I would like to learn more and share more about these companies in the future. In the meantime, it's been a month and I'm slowly but surely recovering and happy to be alive! Thanks to Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital, the amazing doctors and nurses, and Mom!!

My 2nd Life with Diabetes

Allie B — Sat, 08 May 2010 00:23:00 GMT

As of next week I will be the lucky and blessed recipient of a new kidney that should revamp my dwindling supply of energy for life. As well, it should help restore my electrolyte imbalance (among other kidney functions we take for granted).

As I indicated on my last blog -- I am very interested in finding the companies who are breaking new ground in innovative and brilliant therapies for diabetes. In the upcoming weeks I will introduce, interview and give you the chance to question the companies who have earned their stripes in the diabetes chronicles.

July 1985 was when I was first diagnosed with diabetes. Sadly, I was not the right type of kid to get diabetes. Then again -- what is the right type of kid to get diabetes? Nobody!! My mom said she would give me a toy and next time she came into the room it was in a million pieces on the floor. She would say to me "Allison! Why did you do that?"

My response? "I wanted to see how it worked."

So here I am -- 25 years later realizing (the hard way) how it works! With an A1c in a range that would evoke a smile out of Dr. Bernstein...I am poised and ready to take on diabetes with a new lease on life!! I cordially invite you to join me as I learn about the companies changing life with diabetes for the better.

Promising Companies for the Future of Diabetes

Allie B — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 22:12:00 GMT

It is time! About a year ago I was full speed ahead for a kidney transplant. Unfortunately I hit a snag when I had the stroke in the end of June last summer. The result was that I had to put the transplant on hold while I recuperated somewhat.

As a result of 9 months with compromised kidney function and a boatload of blood pressure meds -- my kidney function has continued to deteriorate. Alas I am now swollen (like a fish), tired like a fat cat, and nauseous most mornings -- no it's not pregnancy.

I was hopeful that by the time the kidney transplant surgery came along we would be leaps and bounds closer to a cure. Perhaps that's just wishful thinking. But what I've decided to do in lieu of 'the cure' is look for the most promising companies for the future of diabetes. What do I mean?

The companies that qualify do one of the following:

Regenerate beta cells
Repair complications of diabetes
Make treatment easier
Prevent full blown diabetes

As we wait for a cure -- in the meantime we will do the best with what we have within our reach. If you have a suggestion of a company you'd like to learn more about -- please let me know. I'd be happy to contact them with a few questions and post their Q & A.

LA Times article about Tight Diabetes

Allie B — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 17:56:00 GMT

It has always perplexed me that ‘good diabetes control’ felt so bad. The lower my bG got the more uncoordinated I felt. Ironically the better my HbA1c got the more I experienced peripheral neuropathy, the worse my vision became due to macular edema. As my blood pressure meds increased -- the higher my creatinine levels rose. Why does the good feel so bad? According to an LA Times article there may be a logical explanation.

Aggressive measures to treat diabetics make many of them worse, studies show

Rigorous treatment to bring down blood pressure and cholesterol is not beneficial and increases side effects, researchers say. March 15, 2010|By Thomas H. Maugh II

It seemed like a good idea. Diabetics are at an unusually high risk of heart disease, heart attack and stroke, so sharply reducing their blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar should be highly beneficial. But a decade of studies of thousands of patients show that is not the case.

Two new reports from a major nationwide trial called ACCORD released Sunday show that lowering either blood pressure or cholesterol below current guidelines does not provide additional benefit and, in fact, increases the risk of side effects. A third arm of the study, released two years ago, shows that excessively lowering blood sugar levels actually increases the risk of heart disease.

The results are disappointing, researchers say, because they suggest that clinicians may have reached the limit of what they can do for diabetic patients without developing new therapeutic approaches.

But the good news is, the findings "reduce the cost and potential side effects of drug therapy" and mean that patients will not have to work as hard at reducing blood sugars, lipids and blood pressure, said Dr. Denise Simons-Morton of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, which funded the trial.

"The take-home message is that the standard care approaches are pretty good. If we try to go beyond them, it doesn't provide additional benefit," she said.

Diabetes has become a tremendous problem in the United States, with at least 21 million people afflicted with Type 2 diabetes -- in which cells do not respond properly to insulin produced by the pancreas -- and millions more at risk because of obesity. Most diabetics also have high blood pressure and high cholesterol, factors that raise their risk of heart attack and stroke to the same level as that of people who already have suffered a heart attack. Many doctors have reasoned that aggressively lowering blood pressure and lipids below nationally recommended levels might decrease the risk of heart disease, and ACCORD, or Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes, was created to study the possibility.

In one arm of the study, Dr. William C. Cushman of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Memphis, Tenn., and his colleagues at 77 medical centers enrolled 4,733 Type 2 diabetics with high cholesterol and cardiovascular disease or a high risk of developing it. They were randomly assigned to treatment regimens to lower their systolic blood pressure -- the top number in a blood pressure measurement -- below 140 mm Hg, the standard treatment goal for diabetics, or below 120 mm Hg, the target goal.

Welcome

Allie B — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 14:53:30 GMT

Welcome to my blog. Please check back soon for new entries.