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$PMCB Pharmacyte Biotech is Poised to Rock the Diabetes Treatment Boat



After a century of maintaining the status quo, Pharmacyte Biotech Inc. (OTCMKTS:PMCB) is working on a quantum leap in the treatment of diabetes.

While the last few decades have seen some amazing advances in medicine, one area that hasn't changed much - if at all - is diabetes treatments. The current standard of care is insulin injections, and though they've certainly improved since first being introduced back in the 1920's the basic premise is no different now than it was then. A small, up-and-coming biotech company called Pharmacyte Biotech Inc. (OTCMKTS:PMCB), may be about to change the diabetes treatment paradigm.

Diabetes, in simplest terms, is an excess of glucose (sugar) in the bloodstream. Normally the human body can process and remove this glucose with insulin produced naturally produced by the pancreas. For diabetics, however, the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas are destroyed by that body's immune system. Though type 2 diabetes can often be treated by weight loss and better dietary habits, type 1 diabetes - "the bad one" - cannot be self-regulated by diet and exercise.

Proposed solutions to the type 1 diabetes problem have been varied, and each has its merits.

The simplest solution (and the one still primarily used) was, as noted, is injecting insulin into the diabetic patient's bloodstream. This is the solution Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) introduced nearly a century ago. The downside? Even a small needle is still a needle, and the required dosage is forever changing with a diabetic's glucose levels.

MannKind Corporation (NASDAQ:MNKD) arguably introduced the biggest leap in the world of insulin treatments last year, winning the FDA's approval for AFREZZA... and inhaled form of insulin. While this approach circumvents the needle, questions remain over the long-term safety of delivering insulin through the lungs.

And in between those two milestones, several companies toyed with the idea of depositing or replacing the islet cells in the pancreas as a therapy for type 1 diabetes, which would effectively serve as a cure for the disease. These ideas showed promise too, but were largely problematic. Either these cells were still ultimately attacked by the immune system, or the mechanical structure required to place them in the pancreas failed.

To this day, the only viable treatment of type 1 diabetes is the original one... forcing insulin into the bloodstream from outside the body, one way or another. Pharmacyte Biotech may be about to change this with what could effectively be seen as a cure for the disease.

The technology is called Cell-in-a-Box. Pharmacyte Biotech developed it as a means of depositing living, normally-functioning cells into a particular part of the body where their presence would have a therapeutic effect. In this case, the cells "in the box" would be insulin-producing islet cells placed within the pancreas. Just like a patient's own cells would detect the presence of glucose and begin producing insulin, the cells inside the encapsulation are capable of sensing high levels of glucose and produce an appropriate amount of insulin.

It's an idea that's been tried before, but as was noted, it's an idea that's generally failed one way or another. The game-changer Pharmacyte brings to the table, however, is the Cell-in-a-Box encapsulation biotechnology.

The key to Cell-in-a-Box is the combination of the right polymers added to the mix in the right way at the right time.

The process starts out with a mix of live cells (insulin-producing pancreatic cells in this case) and a polymer which is then passed through a droplet-forming device into a bath of another proprietary polymer. When the two polymers meet, a membrane is formed, with the living cells inside of it. This membrane keeps the cells in, lets insulin out, lets nutrients in, and most important, prevents the body's immune system from destroying these cells.... something most previous encapsulation attempts couldn't do.

And that's the proverbial quantum leap for diabetics - an encapsulation technology that actually works for the long haul.

There's still work to be done. Cell-in-a-Box as a treatment pathway for type 1 diabetes is currently in the preclinical research phase, though it was recently validated as a safe biotechnology by University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna. Then again, its confirmed safety can't even be counted as a pleasant surprise, as it's the same delivery technology that's now part of a phase 2 study as a treatment means for pancreatic cancer.

Whatever the case, Pharmacyte Biotech is one step closer to beginning human clinical trials of the diabetes treatment approach. That alone could prove catalytic for its stock, as it has the potential to change the way the world thinks about treating diabetes.