Technology Review: Detecting Cell Loss in Diabetes A novel molecular tracer could help doctors track the loss of insulin-producing cells in diabetes. Such a tool would allow both doctors and drug developers to better assess the effectiveness of new treatments. It could also shed light on the disease by allowing scientists to correlate loss of insulin-producing cells with diabetes symptoms for the first time.

"If we could see cell loss early, perhaps we could get patients started on therapy before there is irreversible damage," says Dan Skovronsky, founder and CEO of Philadelphia-based Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, the company that is developing the marker.