Phase I and II trials are assessing the use of these cells as a type 1 diabetes treatment.

Living Cell Technologies (LCT) will develop a pathogen free (DPF) facility to breed its pig herd. The facility will be built in Invercargill, New Zealand, and is scheduled to begin operations in early 2009.


LCT’s porcine insulin producing cell product, DiabeCell®, is being evaluated in multiple type 1 diabetes clinical studies. “Porcine islet cells of uniform quality are critical to the administration of our clinical trials,” points out Paul Tan, Ph.D., COO at LCT. “We have taken great care to ensure facility compliance with animal welfare guidelines as we pursue a treatment for type 1 diabetes.


“The new facility is integral to the company’s future growth, given the recent approval for the initiation of a Phase I/IIa clinical trial in New Zealand and the expansion of our Russian clinical trial, which commenced in mid-2007 and has yielded positive safety and efficacy data to date.”

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