There was a time when a diagnosis of diabetes was a death sentence. The diabetes wasn’t going to kill the patient, but the complication that it caused would.

Then in 1921 Fredrick G. Banting, Charles H. Best, J.J.R. Macleod, and James B. Collip (all Canadian scientists) discovered insulin. They extracted insulin from the pancreases of animals. It was the dawn of a new era where diabetes could be treated. Of course, the treatment had a long way to go to be serviceable. Remarkably, all of the Canadian scientists refused personal financial gain because of their discovery. They said that the discovery was too important to be withheld from the public.

The first insulin injection was given in 1922. It was insulin extracted from the pancreas of a cow. The insulin was far from pure; and the recipient, Leonard Thompson developed a 7.5-cm callus at the injection site. It was obvious that insulin was a miracle, but one that would have to evolve to be effective.

Needless to say, the demand for this new miracle medicine was huge. The University of Toronto issued licenses for the production of insulin in 1922, but it took several years for the product to become pure and standardized.

The first advance came in 1936, when protamine, a low-weight protein, was used to develop a slow-release insulin. Protamine zinc insulin (PZI) was developed. This is an insulin whose effect lasted from 24 to 36 hours.

In 1950 yet another leap in research led to the isophane NP insulin, which is also bound to protamine and is still available today.

Over the years insulin has been improved. The insulin today is, of course, pure, and it is a standardized strength. Insulin has given hope and life back to diabetics all over the world — and it gets better all the time.