Clinical trial for diabetes cure needs funding

In research funded by Lee Iacocca's foundation, researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have cured late stage type 1 diabetes in mice. They used an old medication for tuberculosis to achieve the now peer reviewed results. The catch is that an existing medication does not have much profit potential for the pharmaceutical industry, so it's hard to get funding. They need $11 million for the first phase of testing, and may need more after that but are hoping to get federal funding if phase I goes well. Lee Iacocca, who lost his wife to diabetes, has committed $1 million to get them started and is trying to raise the rest. They're over halfway there for phase I. Also the site notes that 100% of contributions will go to the MGH research and not to pay overhead costs for the foundation.

The research is obviously important for millions of diabetes sufferers, but the site FAQ also notes that similar treatments may be viable against other autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthitis and lupus. Millions of people have these diseases as well and we know so little about them.

Like anything going into a trial, this research may turn out to simply not work in humans. But what if it does work? Such trials are necessary to find successful treatments. For more information go to this page and read about the Trials. There's a link to the FAQ on the trial page.