In the early 1920s, diabetes was a deadly and virtually untreatable disease. Back then, diabetes patients could be expected to live only a few years after diagnosis.

Dr. Frederick Banting, a Canadian doctor, became interested in diabetes after reading a paper that discussed the role of the pancreas in diabetes. He believed that if he could isolate and extract a substance from the pancreas, it might have the potential to treat the condition.

In 1921, Banting approached Dr. John Macleod, at the University of Toronto, with his idea. Macleod was initially skeptical, but he agreed to provide Banting with a laboratory and some help. Banting’s early research focused on extracting a substance from the pancreas of dogs. Together with a medical student named Charles Best they successfully isolated a crude substance, which when injected into diabetic dogs, had a remarkable effect on their blood sugar levels. They called it “isletin,” which would later be renamed “insulin.”

With the help of biochemist James Collip, they refined the insulin extract and make it suitable for human use. Then, in 1922, the team successfully treated their first human patient, a 14-year-old boy named Leonard Thompson, who was dying of diabetes. After injection with insulin, the boy dramatic improved, and this remarkable breakthrough was a turning point in the history of diabetes treatment.

Dr. Banting, Dr. Macleod, and their team were quite rightly celebrated for astonishing discovery. In 1923, Banting and Macleod were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their role in the development of insulin. Banting generously shared his prize money with Best, recognizing the crucial contribution of his assistant. Moreover, when on 23 January 1923, Banting, Collip and Best were awarded U.S. patents on insulin and the production methods, they all sold these patents to the University of Toronto for $1 each. Banting famously said, “Insulin does not belong to me, it belongs to the world.” What a man!

Insulin is now a life-saving treatment for millions of people with diabetes around the world, transforming what was once a fatal disease into a manageable condition. Thank you Banting and colleagues, from the bottom of my heart!