The Human Trial
27/05/2023
Best Feature Documentary
Lisa Hepner, Guy Mossman
- Overview
In 2011, filmmakers Lisa Hepner and Guy Mossman heard about a radical stem cell treatment for diabetes, a disease that kills more than five million people each year. Driven by a desire to cure Lisa of her own type 1 diabetes, the married couple secured unprecedented, real-time access to a clinical trial led by San Diego–based biotech company ViaCyte—only the sixth-ever embryonic stem cell trial in the world. What follows is an intimate journey with the patients and scientists who put themselves on the line to be first. In the world of biotech and medical research, there are no tidy solutions.