Diabetes Remedy - The Discovery of Insulin

History of the first diabetes remedy and treatment

Insulin was co-discovered by a Canadian doctor, Dr. Frederick Banting. Banting shared in the 1923 Nobel Prize for Medicine with Dr. J.J.R. Macleod of Scotland in recognition of their work in this area. At the time he received his Nobel Prize, Banting was only 32. To this day, he remains the youngest recipient of the award in his category, as well as one of the youngest Nobel laureates ever in any category.

Born on November 14, 1891, at Alliston, Ontario, Canada, Banting received his Bachelor of Medicine (M.B.) degree in 1916 and joined the Canadian Army Medical Corps almost immediately afterward.

He received the Military Cross for heroism under fire in 1919. After the war, Banting worked in private practice for a short while, but then went back to academic life to study orthopedic medicine. He was also Resident Surgeon at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. After completing his studies he re-established his medical practice in London and taught Orthopedics part-time at the University of Western Ontario. From 1921 until 1922 he was Lecturer in Pharmacology at the University of Toronto. In 1922, Banting received his M.D. degree, along with a gold medal for high academic standing.

Sometime earlier, Banting had developed a deep interest in the disease of diabetes. Research at the time had indicated that diabetes was caused by lack of a protein hormone secreted in the pancreas. A leading diabetes researcher - Sir Edward Schafer – had named this hormone "insulin " in a book, The Endocrine Organs. This book, published in 1916, was based on a lecture series he gave in California in 1913.

In the spring of 1921, inspired by his study of Schafer and another leading diabetes researcher of the time - Moses Baron, Banting discussed the setting up of his own research lab with J.J.R. Macleod professor of Physiology at the University of Toronto. Macleod gave him facilities for conducting his experiments and appointed two medical students - Charles Best and Clark Noble – as Banting's assistants. Banting soon realized that he only needed one assistant and Best was selected as a result of winning a coin toss.

How this diabetes remedy was tested

After successful experimentation on a dog Banting consulted with McLeod. This resulted in more experimentations as Macleod pointed out some flaws in Banting and Best's original methodology. Following these experiments, the insulin developed in Banting's lab was ready to be tested on humans. On January 11, 1922, the first person to be injected with insulin, was a dying 14-year old diabetic named Leonard Thompson of Toronto. The initial injection provoked a severe allergic reaction due to the impurities it contained.

However, a second, purer injection 12 days later was completely successful. Shortly thereafter, a method for producing large quantities of highly refined, pure insulin was developed in partnership with the drug company Eli Lilly and Company. It was released into the market soon afterwards. In 1923 the Nobel Prize for Medicine was awarded to Banting and Macleod. This was a source of controversy as Banting felt that Macleod's contributions were minimal at most and the bulk of the work had been done by Charles Best. In recognition of Charles Best's contribution, Banting gave him half of his share of the prize money.

Banting went on to have a distinguished career in medicine. He received many more honors along the way, including a Knighthood in 1934. Sadly he died in a plane crash in Newfoundland in 1941. It so happened that neither Banting, nor Best nor any of the other insulin researchers became wealthy as a result of their discovery and the patent was sold to the University of Toronto for the sum of $1.

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