Photo Credit: KARK
Katie Hand, a Bryant native, is participating in a clinical trial through Eledon Pharmaceuticals at the University of Chicago Medicine that aims to help patients regulate glucose without insulin injections.
“I feel great. I feel like myself, except better, because for the first time in over a decade, my glucose is in range all the time,” Hand said.
Dr. Piotr Witkowski, director of the Pancreatic and Islet Transplant Program at the University of Chicago Medicine, said the treatment involves transplanting insulin-producing islet cells from a deceased donor pancreas.
“Those cells producing insulin will help patients manage the glucose. They don’t need to inject it anymore,” Witkowski said.
Because the cells come from another person, patients must take anti-rejection medication similar to that used in other organ transplants. Witkowski said the trial is testing a new drug that early research suggests may have minimal side effects.
According to Witkowski, 11 patients nationwide travel to Chicago every three weeks for infusion treatments as part of the study. The trial remains in its early stages and could take several years before the therapy is approved for widespread use.
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