Patient 13 follows Scott King - scientist, entrepreneur and Type 1 diabetic - at the climax of his 30-year quest to cure diabetes. Working with a team of world-renowned scientists, Scott is battling the odds to bring one of the most dramatic medical discoveries in history to human trial - even if it means experimenting on himself. Will the scientists be Nobel Prize winners or failed visionaries? If Scott succeeds, not only will he cure Type 1 diabetes, he will cure himself.
Scott has been preparing for this moment for 30 years. Since being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 1977, this scientist and biotech entrepreneur has been on a personal quest to cure the corrosive illness
that has affected his eyes, his kidneys, and his nerves. “When I was diagnosed with diabetes I was told I had immediately lost one-third of my life expectancy. Technically I should be dead,” he says. Instead, Scott - with his motley crew of brilliant doctors and scientists - is perfecting The Islet Sheet, the device that could change millions of lives forever - including his own. Scott wants to be Patient 13, the 13th patient to participate in his own clinical trial.
All roads have led to this pivotal year. Scott has dedicated his life and his earnings to cure this complex disease. He has recruited the word- famous Dr. Jonathan Lakey to his team, and has raised over a million
dollars to carry his team to 2012. But if the bioartificial pancreas doesn’t work, there will be no more money. And no more dreams of being part of one of the biggest medical breakthroughs of the 21st Century.
Raising the stakes even higher is an Australian company that is making strides in transplanting islet cells, using similar enough technology to make the Americans nervous. While Scott’s team is friendly with the
Aussies, the race to the cure holds too much fame and fortune not to be highly competitive.
When - and if - the corks are popped after the canine trials this year, the Islet Team will present its findings to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to green light a human trial in the US. This is the Holy Grail for researchers as the FDA is much stricter than Canada, New Zealand and Europe. Should the FDA deny their request, the Islet Team will move the trial to Oxford, UK where Scott will become Patient 13. The results of the Islet Sheet transplant - if it works - are immediate. Patients, including Scott, will go off insulin, some for the first time in their lives.
From the Auckland Islands to Hong Kong to Oxford, Patient 13 will chronicle one charismatic team’s efforts to push science forward. Scott and him team are poised to change millions of lives, forever.
Life with Insulin-dependent diabetes is scary, relentless, and mostly invisible to the outside world. In Type 1 diabetes, the body does not produce insulin, a hormone that is needed to convert food into energy. To survive, patients need daily insulin injections. Anyone who has Type 1 is in a race against time. The average diabetic’s lifespan is shortened by 12 years after diagnosis. Type 1diabetes takes its toll on the healthcare system too. The disease costs the US health-care system $174 billion a year, according to the National Institutes of Health.
WHY WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT
Things are heating up! The time is now to participate in this groundbreaking documentary. This is a critical moment for the film as Scott King and his team are entering into the final phase of research before going to human trial. This means several shoots this fall, including following Scott to Oxford, England, where he will be preparing for the possibility of a human trial in 2013. He and his team will also be going to Groningen, The Netherlands to collaborate with top Dutch scientists. Your support will help us with travel and production expenses and keep us from missing a significant chapter in this unfolding story. In addition, what we shoot this fall will be used as a fundraising reel for the feature length film.
Click on the link below to learn more and help support this important cause:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/544334
747/patient-13
Vox Pop Films is full-service production company based in Los Angeles. Our film and commercial work has been internationally recognized from Sundance to Seoul. Prior to forming Vox Pop Films in New York City in 2008, the founders Lisa Hepner and Guy Mossman built careers as successful documentary filmmakers, shooting around the globe. Lisa, the film’s Director, has had Type 1 diabetes for 20 years.
www.voxpopfilms.tv | t. 323.482.1772 |
info@voxpopfilms.tv
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