[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 136 (Friday, September 27, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1749]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           DIABETES RESEARCH

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ROBERT C. SCOTT

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 26, 1996

  Mr. SCOTT. Mr. Speaker, recently at a special session of the 
Congressional Black Caucus, members learned about the devastating 
impact of diabetes in the African-American community. I wanted to share 
with my colleagues the exciting research underway at the Diabetes 
Institute in Norfolk, VA. The work being done there holds out the hope 
that we can actually discover a cure for this disease and I believe we 
must do all we can to support efforts that have this much promise. Mr. 
Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the attached article from the 
Virginia-Pilot be printed in the Congressional Record.

              [The Virginia-Pilot, Tuesday, July 9, 1996]

                           A Research Gamble

                            (By Marie Joyce)

       Someday, Dr. Aaron I. Vinik may be able to say that he and 
     his colleagues helped cure diabetes, through work they did at 
     the Diabetes Institutes at Norfolk's Eastern Virginia Medical 
     School.
       Someday.
       Right now, Vinik, his staff and the medical school are 
     taking a high-stakes gamble.
       Medical research is expensive.
       The payoff isn't guaranteed.
       Other scientists around the world are chasing the same type 
     of cure and hoping to get there first.
       Because fund-raising efforts have fallen short and grants 
     are hard to come by, money matters now loom almost as large 
     as scientific questions at the institutes.
       If Vinik's project succeeds, it could help millions of 
     diabetes sufferers, and bring glory and money to the 
     relatively new medical school and to Hampton Roads. If it 
     fails--despite years of effort and millions of dollars--most 
     people probably will never know about it.
       The public hears only about the great discoveries, said 
     Jock R. Wheeler, the school's dean.
       ``There are many more scientists who work their entire 
     lifetimes and never gain recognition or the goals they've set 
     for themselves,'' he said. ``That doesn't mean they've been 
     unsuccessful.''
       A scientist who cures diabetes would improve the lives of 
     millions in the United States alone.
       Diabetes happens because the body either can't make or 
     can't properly use insulin, a hormone that helps process 
     sugar and other carbohydrates.
       It has been diagnosed in 8 million Americans, and some 
     health officials estimate as many as 8 million more have the 
     disease but don't know it. In 1992, diabetes contributed to 
     the deaths of at least 170,000 people in the United States, 
     according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 
     It can lead to blindness, heart disease, stroke, kidney 
     failure and nerve damage.
       Vinik and his staff say they have taken a big step toward a 
     possible cure. Working with collaborators at McGill 
     University in Montreal, they've discovered a mix of proteins 
     that spurs the body to grow more insulin-producing cells, 
     Vinik says.
       The researchers have experimented with a mix of proteins 
     that cures the disease in hamsters, that were given a 
     chemical to make them diabetic, Vinik said. The scientists do 
     much of their work in a building on Brambleton Avenue, across 
     from the medical school's main buildings.
       The human body grows insulin-producing cells, located at 
     the pancreas, before birth. After birth, the body doesn't 
     create many more of these cells.
       But in people with diabetes, the process malfunctions. With 
     type 1 diabetes--which accounts for only about 5 percent of 
     all cases--the body apparently attacks and kills its own 
     insulin-producing cells. With type 2, either the body can't 
     efficiently use the insulin or the cells can't make enough; 
     sometimes, the cells die under the strain.
       Vinik and his colleagues are trying to revive the ability 
     the body had before birth, prompting it to grow more insulin-
     producing cells.
       To do that, they must accomplish two things:
       They must find a specific gene that acts as a blueprint, 
     telling the body to create the protein. Or they must isolate 
     the specific protein created by the gene.
       They must find other substances that shut off the process 
     once enough insulin-producing cells have been created.
       Potentially, Vinik says, the discovery could help all type 
     1 sufferers and the 15 percent or so of type 2 victims who 
     lose their insulin-producing cells.
       If they can accomplish all this in animals, they probably 
     can do it in humans, too, Vinik said. Right now, the key is 
     finding the blueprint gene in hamsters.
       No one at the medical school will disclose how close--or 
     how far--they are. They must be careful, they say, not to 
     reveal too much to rival scientists.
       ``One never knows until the last minute, until the last 
     experiment was done,'' said Dr. Leon-Paul Georges, director 
     of the institutes. ``It's a tremendous gamble, in a way.''
       For the last 7 years or so, the medical school and Hampton 
     Roads contributors have been putting their money on the table 
     to fund this research.
       The institutes run a large patient-care clinic and 
     education programs. Vinik, who had earned an international 
     reputation at the University of Michigan Medical School and 
     elsewhere, arrived to head the research division in 1990. A 
     new laboratory opened that fall, after a foundation fund-
     raising campaign brought in $11.5 million in less than four 
     years.
       Georges remembers a day when he and Vinik ordered a million 
     dollars worth of sophisticated diagnostic equipment and 
     supplies.
       Since then, there have been up years and down years with 
     fund raising, said Georges. The last year or so has been 
     down. Last week, the research division dropped 10 jobs, 
     almost half of its 25-person staff, although none of the 
     researchers worked on Vinik's key project. They're also 
     scaling back on supplies and equipment purchases. The patient 
     care and education departments weren't affected.
       The Diabetes Institutes Foundation, the Norfolk-based, non-
     profit group that finds money for the institutes, collected 
     about $700,000 less than it hoped to in the 1994-95 fiscal 
     year, according to the foundation's tax forms. The foundation 
     began that year about $700,000 behind for a combined 
     shortfall of about $1.4 million.
       The foundation's board is composed mostly of community 
     volunteers. Georges, who sits on the board, said that despite 
     members' hard work, it simply wasn't possible to raise as 
     much as they had hoped. They were able to raise about 
     $800,000 for the institutes in the 1994-95 fiscal year, 
     according to tax documents.
       The medical school had been making up the difference 
     between what was budgeted and what was raised. The foundation 
     intends to repay the money, but so far hasn't been able to, 
     Georges said.
       This year, the medical school's and institutes' board 
     members decided the school couldn't fill the gap anymore.
       With less money, Vinik says, the institute must look to 
     other funding sources to continue at the same pace. And 
     success may depend on speed. More than a half-dozen other 
     centers around the world are investigating the same type of 
     treatment.
       Wheeler, the medical school's dean, won't say whether he 
     thinks the work will go more slowly now. He said the board 
     still backs Vinik's project. ``We think the diabetes program 
     has been very successful and we think it will continue to be 
     very successful,'' Wheeler said.
       But the foundation and the medical school--like 
     institutions around the country--have been hurt by a 
     shrinking pot of research and education money from the 
     government and private groups, say school officials.
       ``The decisions in medical schools are very difficult right 
     now,'' Wheeler said.
       The Diabetes Institutes will continue with other major 
     research projects, although they may have to cut back on some 
     less important investigations.
       Among other things, the institutes are participating in a 
     study of a medicine that reverses some diabetes-related nerve 
     damage. A major biotechnology company is funding some of that 
     work. The project has attracted a lot of attention and 
     brought in patients and donations from around the country.
       As for the project on growing insulin-producing cells, the 
     institutes will look for other sources of money, said Vinik. 
     They will seek more collaborators at other schools, who would 
     take on some of the work in exchange for some of the 
     benefits.
       Biomedical companies may be willing to bankroll the work 
     because they expect it to pay off. Georges and Vinik say they 
     have spoken with several major firms, which have signed 
     agreements to examine the research without divulging it.
       Research spending is always a bit of a wild card 
     investment, even through school administrators look hard at 
     the science before they spend the money.
       ``I can't say, `I have this project, and if I spend this 
     amount of money, I'm going to get this result,''' Wheeler 
     said. ``You have to understand--that's what research is all 
     about. You're looking for new ideas. . . You may not discover 
     the fountain of youth.''
     
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