Stem-cell therapy helps diabetics heal

For 14 years, Shraddha Churi suffered from fluctuating blood sugar levels. Before she knew it, she developed type 1 diabetes and has had to take regular doses of insulin since then. A year ago, hope came in the form of stem cell therapy. She underwent a treatment last year at Ree Labs and has been able to keep her blood sugar levels in control to date.

Churi is one of the 40 diabetics who have been treated with stem cell therapy at Ree Labs.

Dr Abhijit Bopardikar, director of Reel labs, said, “Stem cell therapy has been quite successful in treating diabetes. We have treated 40 patients and most of those who were taking insulin are off it. This is an achievement.”

Elaborating on how the treatment had changed her life, 28-year-old Churi said, “My HbA1C level (a measure of a person’s three-month average blood sugar,) was 9.8 before the therapy. For a non-diabetic person, the HbA1C level is between 4 and 6. After the therapy, it dropped to 5.9. I have had five sessions of stem cell therapy and will undergo another to ensure that I am off insulin.”

Dr Hasnain Patel, a type 2 diabetes patient since 2000 who has been taking insulin for over four years now, was sceptical of the treatment when he was advised to try it. But, the therapy won him over after his HbA1C levels also dropped. “I didn’t believe in such a treatment before, but now, after seeing the results, I have been spreading the word that stems cell therapy can cure diabetes.”