Grenoble, France. An international research consortium coordinated by CEA-Leti announced the launch of BIOCAPAN, a research project funded by the European Commission aiming at developing an innovative GMP-grade (good manufacturing practices) cell-therapy product to treat diabetes without insulin injections.
The key therapeutic issue in diabetes mellitus types 1 and 2 is glycemic control. Reductions of continuous self-monitoring and insulin injections often associated with long-term complications would tremendously improve the quality of diabetics’ lives. A promising therapeutic option consists of transplanting allogeneic islet cells, but the current state of the art limits the applicability of this approach.
Implanting unprotected grafts requires lifelong administration of immunosuppressants. Moreover, protecting the cells against adverse immune reactions by current encapsulation strategies reduces their functionality and survival to an extent that makes frequent “refresher” implantations necessary. Although encapsulated islets survival has been demonstrated for up to three years, insulin-independence has been shown in one patient for a maximum of only nine months.
Coordinated by Leti, the BIOCAPAN project brings together a multidisciplinary international team of experts to develop an innovative treatment based on implanting allogeneic islet cells embedded in complex bioactive microcapsules that maximize the long-term functionality and survival of pancreatic islets. The project’s goal is a two-year, insulin-injection-free treatment, without immunosuppressants, which would greatly benefit insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus patients. This treatment would be appropriate for all type 1 and about one in six type 2 diabetes mellitus patients—about 80 million people worldwide.
BIOCAPAN, which stands for BIOactive implantable Capsule for PANcreatic islet immunosuppression-free therapy, is supported by the Horizon 2020 Programme, the largest-ever EU research and innovation program.
In addition to CEA-Leti (FR), the four-year, €8 million project brings together nine partners from five EU countries and the U.S.:
- Université Catholique de Louvain (BE)
- Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (DE)
- NovaMatrix (NO)
- NanoImmunotech (ES)
- Université Joseph Fourier (FR)
- Etablissement Français du Sang (FR)
- European Research Services GmbH (DE)
- Wake Forest University Health Sciences (US)
