World Diabetes Day (WDD) is a global diabetes awareness campaign marked on the 14th of November which is the birthday of Sir Frederick Banting who discovered insulin in 1922 along with Charles Best. WDD was created in 1991 with becoming an official United Nations Day in 2006. Each WDD has a theme and the current theme for 2024 – 2026 is diabetes and well-being (2).
While World Diabetes Day is intended to spread awareness of diabetes, for those of us with diabetes, it is a celebration of the life we still get to live and appreciation for the life-saving discovery of insulin as prior to 1922, diabetes was a fatal diagnosis.
A Brief History Lesson…
The term “diabetes” stems from Greek origin meaning “to pass through” due to the large consumption of water and urine production with the Romans adding the term “mellitus” meaning “sweet as honey” due to the sweet urine produced by those with diabetes. Prior to 1922, type 1 diabetes was fatal, and those with disease did not live much longer than a year after diagnosis (1).
Sir Frederick Banting was a Canadian physician and scientist whose interest in the pancreas stemmed from his part time work as a professor at the University of Western Ontario where he had to research all the information about the pancreas in preparation for one of his lectures. It was well known at this point in time that the pancreas produced various “juices” that assisted in digestion, but previous experimentation up to this point in time had only looked at extracts of a healthy pancreas given to diabetics with no improvement with this approach. Banting had the idea to isolate the secretion of the degenerate islet cells of the pancreas. He along with a medical student, Dr. Charles Herbert Best, started an experiment that extracted insulin from the pancreas of a dog and then injected that insulin into a dog whose pancreas had been removed several days earlier. It was noted the change in the dog’s demeanor after an hour where it was able to raise its head, stand up, and wag its tail (1). This kickstarted a process that eventually led to extracting insulin from the pancreas of cattle at slaughterhouses. On January 11, 1922 a 14 year old boy name Leonard Thompson was the first person to receive an insulin injection for the treatment of diabetes. He initially had an allergic reaction and a refined process was created to purify the insulin that was derived from the cows. Leonard received his second injection on January 23 and his condition improved dramatically (3).
In January of 1923, Banting and Best were awarded U.S. patents on insulin and the method used to make it which then sold to the University of Toronto for $1 each as Banting said, “Insulin does not belong to me, it belongs to the world” as he wanted everyone who needed it to have access to it (4).
In October of 1923, Eli Lilly became the first manufacturer to mass produce insulin and shipped their first commercial supply. In the same month Banting received the Nobel Peace Prize for his discovery (4).
“Insulin does not belong to me, it belongs to the world”
Sir Frederick Banting
Insulin for All
It is pretty incredible that initial discovery to mass production of insulin was only a year and a half, especially in the 1920’s where technology was nowhere as near as advanced as it is today. Granted, the testing, regulatory, and approval processes were no where near as time consuming and rigorous as they are today either. We have also seen over the course of 100 years where insulin was seen as such an incredible discovery that should be made easily and cheaply available to all who need it to present day where insulin is “gatekept” by pharmaceutical companies and so expensive that those with diabetes are rationing it. Insulin prices for a 30 day supply increased by 184% from 2012 to 2021 (5). The plight of those with diabetes and their access to insulin, struggles with the health care system, and health insurance headaches could be a pages long story, but the bottom line is that it should not be so difficult or expensive to have a medication needed to stay alive. It’s already challenging and stressful to live with diabetes and to have to fight our healthcare system and insurance companies and deal with price gouging makes living with diabetes that much harder.
World Diabetes Day
As mentioned above, the theme for World Diabetes Day is diabetes and wellbeing with the world diabetes day website (2) giving the statistics of : 36% of people with diabetes experience diabetes distress, 63% of people with diabetes say that fear of developing diabetes-related complications affects their well-being, and 28% of people with diabetes find it hard to remain positive in relation to their condition. Here’s the kicker, the partners listed on the WDD website are AstraZeneca, Lilly Diabetes, Sanofi, and Servier…ALL PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES! I do not understand the hypocrisy of these companies sponsoring events and raising awareness to problems created by their doing and which they have control over?! All of these statistics would be improved and those with diabetes would have greater well-being if medications were more accessible and affordable.
The advancements in types of insulins, diabetic medications, glucose monitors, insulin pumps, etc. over the past 100 years since insulin was discovered is incredible and allows those with diabetes to live a nearly “normal” life, but it has created new problems of cost, access, and ethics. I’m awaiting the day of our next Sir Frederick Banting. The person who discovers a cure for diabetes, or the next best thing, reforms our healthcare system to solve the cost and care issues that make living with diabetes so difficult.
On this world diabetes day, I pray all those with diabetes continue to have hope for the future and live each day with gratitude, that those who love someone with diabetes know how much their love and support is appreciated, and that those who can make a difference in the lives of those with diabetes use their influence for the greater good.
Sources
- Tan SY, Merchant J. Frederick Banting (1891-1941): Discoverer of insulin. Singapore Med J. 2017 Jan;58(1):2-3. doi: 10.11622/smedj.2017002. PMID: 28111693; PMCID: PMC5331123.
- https://worlddiabetesday.org/
- https://www.umassmed.edu/dcoe/diabetes-education/patient-resources/banting-and-best-discover-insulin/
- https://www.diabetes.org.uk/our-research/about-our-research/our-impact/discovery-of-insulin#:~:text=15%20October%201923%20%E2%80%93%20insulin%20produced%20on%20a%20mass%20scale&text=Eli%20Lilly%20become%20the%20first,first%20commercial%20supply%20of%20insulin.
- https://healthcostinstitute.org/hcci-originals-dropdown/all-hcci-reports/https-healthcostinstitute-org-hcci-research-insulin-prices-in-esi-nearly-doubled-from-2012-2021-with-effects-of-emerging-biosimilars-evident-in-recent-years
With Diabetes in Mind 
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