[Donaldson Tan]

3 JAN 2007

SCIENTISTS have discovered a revolutionary cure for diabetes, prompting a rush of interest from big pharmaceutical firms desperate to cash in.

Researchers at Toronto University in Canada found the injectable cure after successful tests on mice and believe it will transform the quality of life of tens of million of people.

British drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline and Danish firm Novo Nordisk have already expressed interest in the breakthrough. They are keen to plug gaps in their drug pipelines. The treatment of diabetes is a $20bn (£10.13bn, E15.06bn) market, which analysts expect to rise to $25bn by 2011.

Researchers at the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children made the breakthrough after proving that the nervous system helps trigger diabetes. The cure works by injecting capsaicin, a chilli extract, in the nerves that make insulin, which restored diabetic mice in trials to health virtually overnight.

When the mice’s pancreatic sensory nerves were injected with the substance, they began producing insulin normally almost instantaneously. Trials on humans with type one and type two diabetes are expected to begin within the next six months.

One of the doctors leading the research, Michael Dosch, said that with similar results in humans, one injection could keep diabetes at bay for years. At the moment, millions of diabetics have to inject themselves daily with insulin.

Dosch described the research as “stunning”. Christian Stohler of the University of Maryland, who reviewed the research, said it opened “a novel, exciting door to address one of the diseases with large societal impact”.

The researchers also concluded that type one and type two diabetes are more alike than previously thought and found that nerves can play a role in other chronic inflammatory conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease and asthma.

Current insulin replacement therapies are accompanied by side effects such as heart attacks, blindness, strokes, loss of limbs and kidney function. There are about 170m diabetics worldwide and the condition causes 2% of all deaths for which records are kept. Increasing obesity levels in the West will make diabetes levels rocket over the next decade.

[Yggdrasil]

Link to Cell paper describing the results of the study (subscription required).

[constant thinker]

That's pretty cool that a chili is capable of potentially curing diabetes, or keeping it at bay at least.

I would love to read that paper Yggdrasil posted, but I sadly don't have a subscription.

[jdurg]

I spoke with my doctor about this and he said that it appears to be a bit overblown.  He's not flat out saying that it won't work in humans, but basically said "don't hold your breath".  I'm hoping he's wrong.   

[Borek]

I spoke with my doctor about this and he said that it appears to be a bit overblown.  He's not flat out saying that it won't work in humans, but basically said "don't hold your breath".  I'm hoping he's wrong.   

I hope he's not, I have some Bioton (PL) shares...