New vaccine trials bring hope of cure for diabetes: report

0 Comments | AFP, December, 2004

LONDON (AFP) — A vaccine against the most serious form of diabetes is to be tested on humans for the first time, raising the prospect that a cure could be widely available within 10 years, The Times reported.

Eighteen sufferers of type 1 diabetes, which usually appears before the age of 40, will begin the trial in August, the daily newspaper reported, citing scientists from the University of Bristol in southwest England, and King's College London.

"If the principal works, we will then want to conduct a further 18-month full clinical trial," Colin Dayan, a consultant senior lecturer in medicine at Bristol, told The Times.

There are 300,000 sufferers of type 1 diabetes, which develops when the pancreas stops producing insulin, in Britain. They need daily...