Project description
Cell therapy improves outcome for diabetic patients
Diabetes is a growing health issue with millions of sufferers worldwide. Management of blood glucose levels relies on continuous monitoring and insulin administration, but these approaches are not always effective. The EU-funded PanINSULA project proposes a novel therapeutic approach based on beta cells, which naturally produce insulin. Closely mimicking the natural function of beta cells, this strategy has the potential to revolutionise diabetes treatment and improve the life of patients. The scope of the project is to design a GMP-compliant production protocol of beta cells and to undertake clinical validation of this novel therapeutic intervention.
Objective
Prevalence of diabetes is increasing among all ages in the European Region, mostly due to increases in overweight and
obesity, unhealthy diet and physical inactivity. Today there are about 60 M people with diabetes in the EU, of which Type 1
Diabetes (T1D) accounts for between 5% and 10%. T1D patients must cope with a lifetime of intensive self-care (testing
their blood sugar levels several times a day to inject insulin when required) and the risk of premature death. Even with
careful management T1D patients can still have difficulties keeping a steady blood glucose level and over time these lifethreatening
fluctuations, especially the chronic high blood sugar levels (hyperglycemia), can cause serious complications
including heart disease, blindness, kidney failure and amputations due to nerve damage. Currently there is no cure for T1D
and no new significant development or permanent therapy for diabetes has emerged in the last 70 years. Islet
transplantation while effective is not a scalable therapy and limited to only the most severe T1D patients due to the shortage
of cadaveric donor islets. Recent advances in generating insulin producing beta cells from pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs),
positions stem cell-based therapy as a promising treatment for a wider population of T1D patients. A stem cell based therapy
would replace the damaged beta cells in the patients and allow for a natural production and secretion of insulin to regulate
the blood glucose levels. To make stem cell therapy a clinically and commercially viable treatment in diabetes, the following
technical hurdles need to be addressed: safety (lack of purity), cost-effective scalability, and lack of immune protection of the
implanted cells. Pancryos patented technology, in contrast to other available competing technologies, enables both
purification and automation ensuring unparalleled safety and cost-efficient scalability and manufacturability of the final cell
product PanINSULA.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine endocrinology diabetes
- medical and health sciences medical biotechnology cells technologies stem cells
- medical and health sciences basic medicine immunology autoimmune diseases
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine transplantation
- medical and health sciences health sciences nutrition obesity
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.2.3. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.3. - PRIORITY 'Societal challenges
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H2020-EU.2.1. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
2200 KOBENHAVN N
Denmark
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.