There’s no real money in developing a cure for T1, whereas there’s plenty to be made in producing the drugs. Lots of promising studies over the last decade, but nothing nearing reality as yet. Sigh. If only I was a billionaire!

I wanna be a billionaire so fricken baaaad,….
my life is one big song.

Chris I believe its gonna happen for us though !!!

I think they’ll stop it happening, but not ‘cure’ those who have it.

I think its worth them working on a cure – the company that develops the cure will suddenly be famous, huge and worth a fortune.

Well, I’m really optimistic (perhaps its the only thing keeping me going some days) that there will be a cure. The pig cell implant testing seemed to go well for some who received it in the 90’s and they are testing on other T1s now. My son was diagnosed last August and his nurse and specialist are very optimistic that there will be a cure by the time Leo (my son) is a teenager – I doubt they are in the pratice of giving parents false hope …..

Jane, it would be nearly impossible to stop it happening as it’s (usually) an auto-immune response (I got mine from the flu) but there are studies targeted towards prevention, so hopefully.
And Alison, there is NO money in a cure. If it cost you $1000 to cure your diabetes rather than (guessing) $500,000 to just treat it, why would you investigate the cure? Which drug company would pay the billions to do that? Where’s the return on investment? Fame? Not in today’s world sadly. It’s all about the $$
And as Dr. Bernstein puts it, there may well be a cure in the future, but don’t put todays health at risk while you wait for it.

Dee M, They told my parents and me that there was go to be a cure within 5 years… back in 1984… yes they do try to give parents hope, even false hope, so theat they do not get into that “ZOMG, my childs life is over” mind set… I think it’s bollocks, but then again, I am a real cynic, and have only recently become someone who actually will use the diabetes health system rather than folow a more diy method, so I’m not the best person to talk to!

Never say never, but it won’t come from a commercial organisation if we ever see it.

There are plenty of government run organisations out there which are not fundamentally driven by profit, and there would be a fairly substantial saving to governments when any serious disease like diabetes is “cured”, so there is an incentive there.

Realistically though, with the possible exception of stem-cells, there is no possibility for a “cure”. Long term “set and forget for a few months” treatment is the best we can hope for, Living Cell, better pump/cgms etc. It won’t be cheap, but hopefully it will be cost-effective enough that the governments, medical insurers etc around the world will find it an attractive deal.

I think there will be a cure, sure, but we are no closer to when! Than we have ever been and it will start with T2 first.
Given that the magic elixir of insulin is only 89 years old, it is still somewhat new and most of the current T1 treatment has only come about over the last 40 or 50 years.

As we know, Diabetes has always been part of life. A Geek Physician in Egypt 4000 BC, recorded that a relation of the Pharaoh of the time had what became known as the Sweet Disease, the urine is sweet to taste.
Doctor Greek concluded it was viral and recommend a diet of high fibre, mixed with crushed sheep bones to flush it from the body.

Hehe – Bet doctors are glad they don’t have to do the “Sweet Urine” test anymore!

Maybe if we spent out money and energy on medical research instead of finding new creative ways to kill each other…

If we all stopped taking our insulin, stopped testing, stopped buying pumps and other diabetes things. Then we could all check into hospital and overcrowd the wards forcing the government to fast pace a cure, which I really do think is out there somewhere. But as mentioned before there is heaps more money in the treatment.
I didn”t know doctors don’t do the “sweet urine” test anymore. I think I need a new doctor!

I can go with there being more money in treatment than cure, but if such a thing came up from anywhere, it would be introduced ASAP. As Aaron said in one of his topics, cure doesn’t feature a lot for him and I agree.

Having come from the days of, shall I say, the basic treatment for T1, I reckon I am on a winner with the current basic treatment and as this continues to improve, so should my quality of life.

As I understand it Ali and Paul, doctors employed people to do this tasting and as it covered a raft of conditions, it was known to be a short term occupation