AdoShell® Islets
AdoShell® Islets is a hydrogel-based implant designed to cure type 1 diabetes by cell therapy.
In type 1 diabetes, the beta cells of islets of Langerhans are destroyed by an autoimmune mechanism. Transplantation of islets of Langerhans is the only curative treatment. This technique is practiced in various countries. However, it has a major pitfall: it requires the use of heavy immunosuppressive treatments (like any allograft) with major undesirable effects.
AdoShell® Islets, an immuno-protective scaffold containing islets of Langerhans, significantly improves the current transplantation protocols techniques:
- By removing the immunosuppressive treatment
- By making the implanted islets retrievable
The first application of AdoShell® Islets is the transplantation of islets from deceased donors to cure patients with type 1 diabetes that cannot be controlled due to severe hypoglycemia unawareness. In parallel, Adocia is developing its technology for replacement of islets by stem-cell derived β-like cells to be independent of organ donation.
Cell therapy, the grail for type 1 diabetes treatment
Islet transplantation shows the promise of curing type 1 diabetes by restoring glycemic control without the use of daily insulin injections, a major step forward to improve quality of life for patients.
Furthermore, some patients suffer from extreme glycemic variability, responsible for iterative and/or severe unfelt hypoglycemia (referred as hypoglycemia unawareness). This results in major life disruption and requires frequent and prolonged hospitalizations. For those people, the unmet medical need remains high, and an islet transplant can be a life-saving therapy.
AdoShell® Islets aims to cure type 1 diabetes with cell therapy
AdoShell® Islets is a thin implant obtained after encapsulation of islets of Langerhans with Adocia’s proprietary technology AdoShell, a universal immuno-isolating scaffold.
The physical barrier formed by AdoShell® hydrogel allows the implanted cells to be invisible to the host’s immune system while allowing the necessary physiological exchanges to occur for the survival and function of the islets.
After implantation in diabetic animals, the islets encapsulated in AdoShell® secrete insulin in response to blood glucose levels. AdoShell® Islets allows glycemic control in immunocompetent diabetic rats for more than 6 months without immunosuppression. Animal trials are still ongoing, prior to human implantation trials.
With AdoShell® Islets, Adocia aims to treat life-threatening cases in priority, using cells from deceased donors.
AdoShell® technology is also applicable to other cells, such as stem-cell derived β-like cells with the objective of treating the greatest number of people with type 1 diabetes without being limited by donors scarcity.
Collaborations with leaders in polymer science, islets and surgery
Academic collaborations have been established with transdisciplinary teams, recognized internationally in their field of expertise.
