Reply to Encapsulate this: the do's and don'ts

Nature Medicine replies:

We thank Orive and his colleagues for their thoughful argument that existing materials for islet encapsulation are suitable for therapeutic applications¹. However, this does not seem to be the opinion of most scientists working in the field of islet encapsulation, as evidenced by the comments and opinions outlined in the News Feature². One notable proponent of the need for improved biomaterial barriers is the JDRF, which handed out one of the largest academic grants ever in this discipline specifically for the pursuit of a new alginate-based material. As discussed in the News Feature, this JDRF-funded project is beginning to bear fruit, with preliminary results showing that the new alginate derivate is superior to previously tested materials. Given the dearth of promising data on the application of islet encapsulation in humans or other primates, Nature Medicine maintains that this is a worthy and exciting area of research to highlight in our News pages.