Seaweed Treatment an Alternative to Insulin Injections?

Two drug companies have allied to sell an experimental diabetes treatment derived from seaweed that could reduce or eliminate the need for insulin injections.

The treatment, which involves transplantation into the body of pancreas cells that produce insulin, was developed by Santa Monica-based VivoRx Inc. VivoRx gave the right to sell the treatment in North America to Mylan Laboratories Inc., a Pittsburgh-based maker of generic drugs that has an ownership stake in the small biotechnology company.

The treatment is in the early stages of human experimentation, meaning it will probably be several years before commercial sales. VivoRx has performed transplants on three patients at St. Vincent Medical Center in Los Angeles and reported on them in the British medical journal Lancet last year.

Insulin converts sugars into energy that fuels the body. In diabetes, the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or the body cannot effectively use insulin. If the sugars are not converted, stockpiled insulin can damage organs such as the kidneys.

VivoRx’s treatment involves transplants of pancreas cells--known as islet cells or Islets of Langerhans--that produce insulin.

One problem with transplants is that the body of the recipient may reject the islet cells. Patients must take a series of anti-rejection drugs that can have severe side effects.

But VivoRx surrounds the cells with a capsule made largely of seaweed. The capsules allow passage of sugars to the islet cells, which are stimulated to produce insulin that travels back into the body, the companies said.

The capsules do not have pores big enough to enable the passage of lymphocytes and antibodies, which are larger than sugars and insulin and are the causes of cell rejection. Lymphocytes fight disease; antibodies attack foreign matter in the body. Both will attack cells or organs that are transplanted.