Clinical Study Updates
At the Diabetes Research Institute, we house all three phases of research (basic, pre-clinical and clinical) under one roof. In the area of clinical or patient-based research, our scientists offered the following updates:
A clinical study shows that exenatide, a medication approved for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes, had a positive impact on the survival of transplanted islets. In the study, transplant recipients were treated with exenatide over four years. According to Dr. Rodolfo Alejandro, Director of the DRI Clinical Transplant Program, the use of exenetide prolongs islet function in islet transplant recipients although in many cases, the side effects made it difficult to tolerate the drug.