A man in China has been completely cured of type 2 diabetes after a special stem cell treatment. For the first time, Chinese researchers say they have cured a man with long-term type 2 diabetes, not just helped him feel better, through a new kind of stem cell therapy.
The man, who is 59 years old, has had diabetes for 25 years.
He got a cell transplant in 2021. Since 2022, he has not needed any diabetes medicines for over 33 months, and that’s as of the study published in 2024.
Here’s what happened: Scientists made lab-grown pancreatic cells, the same kind that normally make insulin, and put them into the man’s body.
Now his body is making its own insulin again, something it hadn’t done in decades.
The researchers say this is a big step forward for medical treatments that repair the body.
Although type 2 diabetes has been managed before with big lifestyle changes, this is the first time a full biological cure has been achieved using cell therapy.
Experts say more research is needed before this can be used widely, but the results are hopeful.
If this technology can be improved and made available to more people, it could one day help millions of people stop needing daily insulin and other medicines.
