Breakthrough: Elizabeth Hughes, the Discovery of Insulin, and the Making of a Medical Miracle

Breakthrough: Elizabeth Hughes, the Discovery of Insulin, and the Making of a Medical Miracle by Thea Cooper and Arthur Ainsberg

In the 1920s, the best treatment for diabetes was a starvation diet. This would allow somebody to live a few more months of life, but with a significantly degraded quality of life. The hope was that this would allow them to live long enough for a potential "cure" that would just be around the corner.

In Canada, Frederick Banting was a maverick doctor who talked his way into a research position in Toronto. He was convinced that he could help isolate a substance from pancreatic tissue that could treat diabetes. With Charles Best and James Collip they extracted what was to be named insulin and injected into to dogs that were forced to be diabetic. They had success in reducing the diabetic symptoms. John MacLeod was the "adult supervision" that helped give their research credibility and run the clinical trials. Eli Lilly in Indianapolis was also interested in the work and led their work to help mass produce insulin. They were one of the first drug companies to have a research arm. They were able to have more success producing large quantities of insulin than the Toronto labs. This was one of the earlier cases of patent and technology transfer by educational institutions and the start of "big pharma".

Banting was quite a character, and seemed to have issues with many people. His story was intertwined with the story of Elizabeth Hughes. She was the diabetic doctor of a high ranking politician (who narrowly failed to get elected president, and later served as secretary of state.) She was among the first Americans to receive insulin and was able to live a long life with the injections.