The Nation - News from March 17, 1988

Low doses of a transplant drug appear to reverse childhood diabetes, freeing youngsters from insulin injections, but the treatment must begin soon after the disease strikes, according to a study. The preliminary research, done in France, is the latest of a series of studies demonstrating that cyclosporine seems to help victims of juvenile diabetes, also known as Type 1 diabetes. The doctors found that half of the children treated with cyclosporine did not need extra insulin a year after the therapy began. However, other experts cautioned that cyclosporine can harm the kidneys, and they recommended the drug not be given for diabetes except in controlled experiments. The study by doctors at St. Vincent de Paul Hospital in Paris was published in today’s New England Journal of Medicine.