Brian Shelton's type 1 diabetes was treated with an infusion of insulin-producing pancreas cells (grown from stem cells). In 2021, the New York Times reported:
Now his body automatically controls its insulin and blood sugar levels. Shelton, now 64, may be the first person cured of the disease with a new treatment that has experts daring to hope that help may be coming for many of the 1.5 million Americans suffering from Type 1 diabetes. "It's a whole new life," Shelton said. Diabetes experts were astonished but urged caution. The study is continuing and will take five years, involving 17 people with Type 1 diabetes.
"By fall 2023, three patients, including Shelton, had achieved insulin independence by day 180 post-transplant," MedScape reported (in January of 2024):
In the phase 1/2 study, 14 patients with type 1 diabetes and impaired hypoglycemia awareness or recurrent hypoglycemia received portal vein infusions of VX-880 [Vertex Pharmaceutical's pancreatic islet cell replacement therapy] along with standard immunosuppression. As of the last data cut, all 14 patients demonstrated islet cell engraftment and production of endogenous insulin. After more than 90 days of follow-up, 13 of the patients have achieved A1c levels
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