Dr. Denise Faustman Ready for Next Phase of Diabetes Vaccine Research

Dr. Denise Faustman Ready for Next Phase of Diabetes Vaccine Research
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'People with type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis (MS), and other diseases had a relative deficiency in a hormone known as TNF, and with a natural vaccine boosting TNF, you could get rid of bad T-cells and boost T-regs, and the pancreas regenerates. We decided to use a safe, 100-year-old vaccine to make this happen and we've found that it works.
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In early data, we showed that in long-term diabetics, indeed these T-regs were boosted and we could see the targeted death of bad T-cells. We also the beginnings of pancreas regeneration. Sure, no one was throwing insulin syringes away yet, because it was just the beginning... but it showed that this could be done. And importantly, this was in long-term type 1s with 15 to 20 years -- that rattled a lot of people. This was a totally unique patient population, and not how most research was done in newly diagnosed individuals.
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The people in the trial had diabetes for an average of 15 years, and this showed that we could restore insulin production, at least briefly, for people who had type 1 for many years.
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We are going to look at how much BCG is needed, and how frequently. That's the key, the secret: knowing how much to dose. With Phase II-a, I'll try to perfectly match those results in Phase I, with longstanding type 1s who still make a little C-peptide. Then it will be Phase II-B where there isn't C-peptide in longtime type 1s. And after each part, we need to follow these people for five more years.'