Researchers trigger insulin production in diabetic mice
biologynews.net
biologynews.net
The effects of this treatment should be permanent. That is unless they get destroyed by the same mechanism that destroyed the original insulin producing cells. Even so, as the article states, an infrequent injection will cause more to be produced.
It's a very interesting approach. I hope more research goes into designing custom versions of these, as I imagine this can be used in other applications in place of gene therapy. Current transcription factors can probably be used with the addition of the signal peptide appended to the end to allow for transport.