Perth, Oct 21: A New Zealand biotech firm has been given the go-ahead to inject pig cells into humans as part of a trial to tackle diabetes.
New Zealand Health Minister David Cunliffe has given green light to the ASX-listed Living Cell Technologies to conduct the two-year controversial trial.
"It is extremely exciting for lots of people, especially the diabetics, because it gives them new hope," Perth Now quoted company founder David Collinson, as saying.
He said the 2 million dollars would kick off at Auckland''s Middlemore Hospital with eight patients in Feb 2009.
Collinson hopes that by 2010, drugs used in the trial would be made available in some parts of the world.