, Columnist
We Need More Ways to Treat Diabetes. Enter Vertex.
A world without insulin shots is looking like less of a fantasy.
Will there be a better way?
Photographer: Franck Fife/AFP/Getty ImagesEncouraging data suggest a new Type 1 diabetes treatment from Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. could allow patients to forgo insulin. While the data are early and come with caveats, they represent a crucial step forward in a field that has long struggled to move beyond insulin delivery.
Momentum in Type 1 diabetes is starting to hint at a day where new treatments release people from the mental load of constant, careful monitoring and worrying. It’s too soon to talk about a cure for the roughly 2 million kids and adults in the US with the disease — but not to start to guess what a cure might look like.