- Fri Mar 22, 2019 8:22 am
#114617
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A few years earlier, on March 22, 1922, Banting and his co-discover Charles Best announced the discovery of insulin, described in the Toronto Star as a "diabetes cure." But it wasn't a cure, it is just a replacement for the insulin that diabetics are not producing themselves, and they have to keep taking it forever.
Fortunately, Banting and Best thought it should be available for everyone, so they sold the patent to the University of Toronto for one dollar. According to the Canadian Encyclopaedia: "Arguably one of Canada’s greatest contributions in the area of medical research, the discovery of insulin completely transformed the treatment of diabetes, saving millions of lives worldwide."
So on this 97th anniversary of its public announcement, why are there headlines like "Americans are dying because they can’t afford their insulin"? Bernie Sanders wondered this too, although he got the dates wrong:
“Today in 1922, researchers at the University of Toronto announced the discovery of insulin. They sold the patent for $1 so it would be available to all,” he wrote. “97 years later, Eli Lilly is charging ~$300 and Americans die because they can’t afford their medication. Outrageous.”
In Canada, that same insulin costs $32. What's happening here?
It turns out that in 1972 the University of Toronto sold Connaught Labs, which made insulin, to the Canada Development Corporation, which sold it to Sanofi, which is now one of the big producers. In 1982 Eli Lilly started selling genetically engineered synthetic insulin, and now, according to Wikipedia, "The vast majority of insulin currently used worldwide is now biosynthetic recombinant 'human' insulin or its analogues."
- By Clownkicker