Good News Network: 100 years ago (today), two Canadians isolated the hormone insulin
A University of Toronto orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Frederick Banting, recruited the chemistry skills of an assistant, Charles Best, to help with isolating the insulin, which then produced normal blood glucose levels when injected.
Before the breakthrough, people with type 1 diabetes rarely lived more than a year or two. One of the 20th century’s greatest medical discoveries, it still remains the only effective treatment for type 1 diabetes.
By 1923, insulin had become widely available in mass production, and Banting was awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine. Charles Best, being a graduate student, was not included, but Banting recognized him by sharing the award money.
Banting and his colleague John Macleod, who shared the Noble honor, were reluctant to patent their insulin process on grounds of medical ethics. But they did secure a patent, only to prevent any pharmaceutical company from gaining a monopoly, and they published their research so anyone could use it.
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