Answer:
In response to the growing health burden of diabetes, the diabetes community has three choices: prevent diabetes; cure diabetes; and take better care of people with diabetes to prevent devastating complications.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is actively pursuing all three approaches.

Both the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are involved in prevention activities. The NIH is involved in research to cure both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. CDC focuses most of its programs on ensuring that the proven science is put into daily practice for people with diabetes.

Several approaches to “cure” diabetes are being pursued:

Pancreas transplantation
Islet cell transplantation (islet cells produce insulin)
Artificial pancreas development
Genetic manipulation: fat or muscle cells that normally do not make insulin have a human insulin gene inserted. These “pseudo” islet cells are then transplanted into people with Type 1 diabetes.
Each of these approaches still has many challenges, such as preventing immune rejection, finding an adequate number of insulin cells, and keeping cells alive. Progress is being made in all areas.

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