X-posting from LBN: Type-1 Diabetes Vaccine Approved for Human Trials

A new promising vaccine designed to reverse Type-1 diabetes has now been approved for a phase II clinical trial by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The vaccine, known as Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) has already been found in earlier trials to be effective in reversing advanced Type-1 diabetes in mice, and has since completed another successful phase of human clinical trials.

The next phase of trials is expected to last for five years and will investigate whether repeat BCG vaccinations can clinically improve Type-1 diabetes in adults between the ages of 18 and 60 years, who have small but still detectable levels of insulin secretion from the pancreas.

"In the phase I clinical trial we demonstrated a statistically significant response to BCG, but our goal in phase II is to create a lasting therapeutic response," said principal investigator of the study Denise Faustman, director of the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) immunobiology laboratory.

"We will be working again with people who have had type-1 diabetes for many years. This is not a prevention trial; instead, we are trying to create a regimen that will treat even advanced disease."

Read more: http://www.latinpost.com/articles/58383/20150608/type-1-diabetes-vaccine-approved-for-human-trials.htm