Humacyte announces allowance of U.S. patent covering BioVascular Pancreas

Humacyte announced the allowance of a U.S. Patent covering its BioVascular Pancreas product candidate for the treatment of type 1 diabetes. The BVP is designed to enable the delivery and survival of insulin-producing islets inside the body, using Humacyte’s investigational acellular tissue engineered vessel as a carrier for the islets. The new U.S. Patent, titled “Bioartificial Vascular Pancreas,” covers the design and composition of the BVP. The patent is owned by Yale University and is exclusively licensed to Humacyte. The BVP is designed to enable the delivery and survival of insulin-producing islets inside the body. Such technology could overcome many of the hurdles currently associated with implantation of islets into diabetic patients. In June 2024, Humacyte reported positive results from two sets of ongoing preclinical studies, supporting the potential of the BVP product candidate to deliver insulin-producing islets as a treatment for type 1 diabetes. At a presentation at the Breakthrough T1D Beta Cell Consortium Meeting, Humacyte’s scientists presented data in which stem cell-derived islets restored normal blood sugar in diabetic mice. Islets manufactured from human stem cells may provide the basis for the islets that are ultimately delivered using the BVP product candidate. At the American Diabetes Association annual meeting, Humacyte reported successful implantation of BVPs into non-human primate recipients. In the study, primate BVP implants showed islet survival and continued insulin production throughout the three-month duration of the study. Islets also developed capillaries to support survival of the insulin-producing cells.