The marketing of the Islet Sheet will consist of all the usual efforts associated with physician education at trade shows and through medical publications. Due to the widespread acceptance of islet transplantation using the Edmonton Protocol, the fact that the Islet Sheet is effectively taking an accepted medical procedure and eliminating the need for immune suppression, and the fact that centers doing such procedures are easily identified, the marketing can be very focused and effectively directed.
Insertion of Islet Sheets by laparoscopic surgery is the expected technique and it will require physician education in the following:
Familiarity of the Islet Sheet and the process
Education on surgical attachment of the sheets.
To determine whether the sheets are functional once inserted within the patient a simple blood glucose challenge test should be sufficient. Such tests will be performed at intervals of approximately three to six months along with periodic fingerstick blood glucose level testing. If anything goes wrong the patient would only need to resume periodic insulin injections, and the timely monitoring of glucose levels. A procedure they are familiar with and which is easy to re-implement, supporting the inherent safety for the patient using Islet Sheet therapy.
