Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
World transplant and diabetes leaders convened in Monterey at the International Pancreas and Islet Transplantation Association (IPITA) to discuss advances in islet and pancreas transplantation as superior therapies for treating type 1 diabetes. Amid these optimistic reports was the recognition that despite increasing rates of restoring insulin independence following pancreas and islet transplants in the U.S., the ability to carry out these innovative strategies is threatened by economic constraints.
In the U.S., challenges remain related to diminishing grant opportunities, a lengthy regulatory approval process, and limited reimbursement. Rapid expansion of islet cell transplantation, which provide very tangible protection in patients with frequent acute complications, has followed government approval and full national or regional health care coverage for these medical treatments in the province of Alberta in Canada, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Belgium, Denmark, Norway and Sweden, and Australia. This financial support, along with less stringent regulatory demands, has allowed Canada and the listed European countries to collectively outperform the U.S. in pancreas and islet transplant activity for the first time.
http://www.heraldonline.com/2013/09/30/5261046/world-congress-on-isletpancreastransplantation.html
In the U.S., challenges remain related to diminishing grant opportunities, a lengthy regulatory approval process, and limited reimbursement. Rapid expansion of islet cell transplantation, which provide very tangible protection in patients with frequent acute complications, has followed government approval and full national or regional health care coverage for these medical treatments in the province of Alberta in Canada, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Belgium, Denmark, Norway and Sweden, and Australia. This financial support, along with less stringent regulatory demands, has allowed Canada and the listed European countries to collectively outperform the U.S. in pancreas and islet transplant activity for the first time.
http://www.heraldonline.com/2013/09/30/5261046/world-congress-on-isletpancreastransplantation.html