Diabetes & Byetta

1921 : Insulin isolated in Toronto

At the University of Toronto, Canadian scientists Frederick Banting and
Charles Best successfully isolate insulin–a hormone they believe could
prevent diabetes–for the first time. Within a year, the first human
sufferers of diabetes were receiving insulin treatments, and countless
lives were saved from what was previously regarded as a fatal disease.

Diabetes has been recognized as a distinct medical condition for more
than 3,000 years, but its exact cause was a mystery until the 20th
century. By the early 1920s, many researchers strongly suspected that
diabetes was caused by a malfunction in the digestive system related to
the pancreas gland, a small organ that sits on top of the liver. At that
time, the only way to treat the fatal disease was through a diet low in
carbohydrates and sugar and high in fat and protein. Instead of dying

shortly after diagnosis, this diet allowed diabetics to live–for about
a year.

A breakthrough came at the University of Toronto in the summer of 1921,
when Canadians Frederick Banting and Charles Best successfully isolated
insulin from canine test subjects, produced diabetic symptoms in the
animals, and then began a program of insulin injections that returned
the dogs to normalcy. On November 14, the discovery was announced to the
world.

Two months later, with the support of J.J.R. MacLeod of the University
of Toronto, the two scientists began preparations for an insulin
treatment of a human subject. Enlisting the aid of biochemist J.B.
Collip, they were able to extract a reasonably pure formula of insulin
from the pancreases of cattle from slaughterhouses. On January 23, 1921,
they began treating 14-year-old Leonard Thompson with insulin
injections. The diabetic teenager improved dramatically, and the
University of Toronto immediately gave pharmaceutical companies license
to produce insulin, free of royalties. By 1923, insulin had become
widely available, and Banting and Macleod were awarded the Nobel Prize
in medicine.

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