Living Insulin Implant Shows Promise as Millions Still Lack Access to Diabetes Medication

A living implant that automatically produces insulin inside the body has maintained steady blood sugar control in diabetic animals for up to one year, offering a potential alternative to daily injections — even as millions of people worldwide remain unable to access the life-saving medication they need.

Engineers at the Technion developed the implant, which contains living beta cells that react quickly when blood sugar climbs. As blood sugar rises, these pancreas cells release stored hormones that help muscles absorb sugar, and after sugar drops, the same cells slow insulin release, reducing the risk of a dangerous low. In diabetic mice, the device achieved one year of steady blood sugar control.

To keep the implant working long-term, the team had to prevent the body's immune system from sealing it off with scar tissue. They tucked slow-dissolving drug crystals into the capsule carrying the insulin-making cells. As the crystals dissolved, they released medicine locally, preventing macrophages from piling on and blocking the device. Instead of shutting down immunity across the body, the drug worked at the implant surface where overgrowth begins.

In nonhuman primates, the system behaved differently depending on the cell source. Allogeneic cells from a donor of the same species stayed sugar-responsive after one month without systemic immune suppression, while xenogeneic human stem cell-derived cells triggered heavy overgrowth and failed. The results highlight that long-term success depends on matching the cell source to the recipient's immune system. The study was published in Science.

In 2023, 40.1 million Americans had diabetes. Before human trials, developers must prove the implant can be placed safely, then removed if it overproduces insulin. Securing a steady supply of cells also matters, because donor tissue is limited and lab-grown cells must stay predictable.

Meanwhile, insulin — the core treatment discovered in 1921 with its first therapeutic use in 1922 — remains inaccessible to a significant portion of the global population. The scientists who discovered it sold the patent to their university for one symbolic dollar. Yet in 2026, the medication essential for the survival of 9 million people with type 1 diabetes and contributing to care for 63 million with type 2 remains out of reach for many.

Overall, only about one in two people worldwide with type 2 diabetes has access to the insulin they need. In Africa, only one in seven can obtain the medication. In the United States, insulin has become so costly that an estimated 16.5% of people who need it — approximately 1.3 million adults — ration its use by delaying or reducing doses.

The access problem affects both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. In 2020, approximately 445 million adults aged 20 to 79 were living with type 2 diabetes, and by 2025, that number reached at least 730 million, with 15.5% requiring insulin. The barriers stem mainly from the price of insulin and the lack of availability in many health systems, with accessibility depending on a complex chain from manufacturing to prescription and use.

A 2021 World Health Assembly resolution highlighted the importance of insulin access, and a UN General Assembly on noncommunicable diseases held in September 2025 emphasized the crucial role of governmental action in ensuring people can obtain supplies. For type 1 diabetes, insulin remains a matter of survival — without it, the condition constitutes a death sentence.