Pig cell treatment trials approved

GENETICALLY PURE: Auckland Island sows.

Relevant offers

The trademark smile of Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt grew even wider yesterday after Health Minister David Cunliffe approved clinical trials of a controversial diabetic treatment involving pig cells.

Mr Shadbolt faced derision when he insisted on rescuing pigs being culled from the sub-Antarctic Auckland Islands, paying for the pig-feed to keep them in Southland.

However, yesterday's announcement has given the mayor the last laugh. The genetically pure, disease-free pigs are to provide the cells for the treatment trials.

Mr Shadbolt said the decision was great for the city and for diabetics. "I am hoping the story one day will be `Invercargill saves the world'."

The trials will be conducted at Middlemore Hospital in Auckland by Auckland-based company Living Cell Technologies and involves transplanting Auckland Island pig islet cells into the abdomens of diabetic sufferers to encourage their bodies to produce insulin to regulate their blood sugar levels.

Successful trials have been done overseas but it has taken two years of consultation with various committees, including the National Health Committee, which recommended the trial proceed subject to certain conditions, for the minister to approve New Zealand trials.

Mr Cunliffe yesterday said New Zealand could become a world leader in both the treatment of diabetes and in the use of xenotransplantation.

Living Cell Technologies chief executive Paul Tan said it was pleasing news and also secured Southland's role in the trials.

The company is building a multi million-dollar highly secure building near Invercargill to house a growing mob of the pigs. Building was expected to be finished by the end of the year.

Mr Tan could not disclose the site or the name of the Invercargill-based building firm constructing the pig house for security reasons.

If the trials were successful, there was expected to be more work for the builders. "As it proceeds we will need to build another huge facility in Southland," he said.

Invercargill man Peter Thompson, 30, was part of pig cell transplant trials 15 years ago but they were banned after fears the cells could mutate and develop into a virus called porcine retrovirus.

The company has maintained the Auckland Island pigs were virus free.

Speaking from Christchurch yesterday, Mr Thompson said it was not only great news for diabetics but also for Southland.

"I'm ecstatic. It's refreshing government has come through on this one. I am over the moon."

However, the decision has been met strong criticism from the Sustainability Council, which says the Health Minister has put New Zealand's medical reputation at risk.

Council executive director Simon Terry said the approval flew in the face of strong opposing submissions from the leading relevant professional bodies and the New Zealand Medical Association.

"The leading international and national professional specialists have not seen evidence of sufficient efficacy to, in their mind, justify trials."

There had been no study of whether the benefits outweighed potential risks.

Mr Terry said it was a concern the National Health Committee supported such a study be done for future applications but not this one.

Mr Cunliffe has imposed strict conditions on the trials, including that all patient information and tissue samples be housed in an archive at Middlemore Hospital and the operation be overseen by an independent data safety management board. Any adverse events must be reported immediately to the relevant authorities.

The approval was also conditional on a favourable peer review by a leading international expert to be nominated by the Health Ministry, Mr Cunliffe said.

THE TREATMENT
How the pigs will be used
The treatment involves injecting Auckland Island pigs' islet cells, which are encased in a protective gel micro-capsule, into the abdomen of people with type-1 diabetes. The treatment can be administered without any immunosuppressing drugs and produces insulin to help regulate blood glucose levels appropriate to the amount of glucose detected in the blood stream of the diabetic recipient. Source: Living Cell Technologies.

- © Fairfax NZ News