1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:09,200 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:13,360 --> 00:00:17,159 Speaker 1: Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, a 3 00:00:17,239 --> 00:00:20,160 Speaker 1: show that pays tribute to people of the past by 4 00:00:20,239 --> 00:00:25,239 Speaker 1: telling their stories. Today, I'm Gabe Lucier and in this episode, 5 00:00:25,400 --> 00:00:29,480 Speaker 1: we're looking at a major milestone in twentieth century medical science, 6 00:00:29,960 --> 00:00:33,320 Speaker 1: the day when type one diabetes ceased to be a 7 00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:46,640 Speaker 1: death sentence. The day was January eleventh, nineteen twenty two. 8 00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:52,400 Speaker 1: Canadian teenager Leonard Thompson became the first diabetic patient to 9 00:00:52,440 --> 00:00:57,320 Speaker 1: be treated with insulin. Prior to the drugs development, diabetes 10 00:00:57,440 --> 00:01:01,680 Speaker 1: melodis was a terminal disease. If it was caught early enough, 11 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:05,000 Speaker 1: and if a patient followed a strict diet, they might 12 00:01:05,080 --> 00:01:09,240 Speaker 1: survive up to a few years after being diagnosed, although 13 00:01:09,280 --> 00:01:12,240 Speaker 1: many patients with type one didn't make it past a 14 00:01:12,240 --> 00:01:16,680 Speaker 1: few months. Fourteen year old Leonard Thompson had survived three 15 00:01:16,760 --> 00:01:19,759 Speaker 1: years with the disease when he was admitted to Toronto 16 00:01:19,880 --> 00:01:23,600 Speaker 1: General Hospital in nineteen twenty two. He was on the 17 00:01:23,640 --> 00:01:26,400 Speaker 1: brink of death and had been drifting in and out 18 00:01:26,440 --> 00:01:30,000 Speaker 1: of a diabetic coma. In most cases, the boy would 19 00:01:30,040 --> 00:01:32,720 Speaker 1: have died in a matter of days, if not hours, 20 00:01:32,959 --> 00:01:37,119 Speaker 1: but after receiving injections of an experimental drug called insulin. 21 00:01:37,440 --> 00:01:41,800 Speaker 1: He went on to live for another thirteen years. Insulin 22 00:01:42,080 --> 00:01:46,759 Speaker 1: is a naturally occurring anabolic hormone that induces metabolic effects 23 00:01:46,760 --> 00:01:51,040 Speaker 1: throughout the body. In the pancreas, clusters of cells called 24 00:01:51,160 --> 00:01:55,560 Speaker 1: islets produce insulin to help control blood sugar levels. By 25 00:01:55,640 --> 00:02:00,800 Speaker 1: nineteen twenty, many scientists strongly suspected that diabetes was linked 26 00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:03,920 Speaker 1: to a malfunction in the pancreas gland that caused the 27 00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:09,160 Speaker 1: insulin producing cells to be destroyed. That breakthrough in understanding 28 00:02:09,200 --> 00:02:13,040 Speaker 1: the cause of type one diabetes gave researchers a better 29 00:02:13,120 --> 00:02:17,640 Speaker 1: chance of treating the condition, although progress remained slow. The 30 00:02:17,800 --> 00:02:21,559 Speaker 1: challenge was how to extract insulin from a healthy pancreas 31 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:25,080 Speaker 1: without it being destroyed in the process. In the fall 32 00:02:25,120 --> 00:02:29,440 Speaker 1: of nineteen twenty, Canadian physician Frederick Banting hit upon a 33 00:02:29,520 --> 00:02:33,520 Speaker 1: possible solution. He was reading an article that suggested insulin 34 00:02:33,600 --> 00:02:37,960 Speaker 1: producing cells or slower to deteriorate than other pancreatic tissues. 35 00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:40,880 Speaker 1: That made him wonder if it would be possible to 36 00:02:40,960 --> 00:02:44,639 Speaker 1: extract insulin by breaking down the rest of the pancreas 37 00:02:44,840 --> 00:02:49,120 Speaker 1: so that only the insulin producing cells remained intact. To 38 00:02:49,240 --> 00:02:52,360 Speaker 1: test his theory, he enlisted the help of medical student 39 00:02:52,480 --> 00:02:56,000 Speaker 1: Charles Best, as well as professor John McLeod of the 40 00:02:56,120 --> 00:02:59,880 Speaker 1: University of Toronto. The plan they came up with was 41 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:03,520 Speaker 1: to tie off the pancreatic duct in order to isolate 42 00:03:03,600 --> 00:03:07,720 Speaker 1: the insulin for extraction. In the summer of nineteen twenty one, 43 00:03:08,040 --> 00:03:12,160 Speaker 1: working in a laboratory furnished by McLeod, Banting and Best 44 00:03:12,360 --> 00:03:17,600 Speaker 1: successfully extracted insulin from canine test subjects. Then, once the 45 00:03:17,639 --> 00:03:22,359 Speaker 1: animals began to manifest diabetic symptoms, they injected the insulin 46 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:25,200 Speaker 1: back into the dogs, at which point they returned to 47 00:03:25,240 --> 00:03:29,200 Speaker 1: full health. Their discovery was announced to the world in 48 00:03:29,280 --> 00:03:33,040 Speaker 1: mid November, and two months later the scientists began making 49 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:37,240 Speaker 1: preparations to administer the first insulin treatment to a human. 50 00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:42,200 Speaker 1: With the aid of biochemist JB. Collip, the team extracted 51 00:03:42,240 --> 00:03:45,800 Speaker 1: a relatively pure batch of insulin from the pancreas of 52 00:03:45,920 --> 00:03:50,640 Speaker 1: cows sent to slaughter houses. Once an adequate supply was collected, 53 00:03:50,880 --> 00:03:53,680 Speaker 1: they waited for a patient willing to accept the shot. 54 00:03:54,360 --> 00:03:58,880 Speaker 1: The weight didn't last long. On January eleventh, nineteen twenty two, 55 00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:03,200 Speaker 1: fourteen year old Leonard Thompson was admitted to Toronto General Hospital. 56 00:04:03,800 --> 00:04:06,480 Speaker 1: He was in the final stages of the disease, and 57 00:04:06,560 --> 00:04:10,160 Speaker 1: because the only treatment available was a starvation diet, he 58 00:04:10,240 --> 00:04:14,800 Speaker 1: weighed just sixty five pounds. Desperate to save his son's life, 59 00:04:15,040 --> 00:04:19,080 Speaker 1: Leonard's father consented to the experimental treatment, one that had 60 00:04:19,160 --> 00:04:22,800 Speaker 1: not yet been tested on a human being. The first 61 00:04:22,839 --> 00:04:27,640 Speaker 1: insulin injection was administered that same day, but unfortunately, the 62 00:04:27,720 --> 00:04:30,960 Speaker 1: extract was too impure and Leonard wound up having an 63 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:35,679 Speaker 1: allergic reaction. This sent JB. Collop back to the drawing board, 64 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:38,599 Speaker 1: and he spent the next two weeks developing a way 65 00:04:38,640 --> 00:04:42,800 Speaker 1: to improve the purity of the extract. Leonard received a 66 00:04:42,960 --> 00:04:47,200 Speaker 1: second injection on January twenty third, and thankfully, the purer 67 00:04:47,320 --> 00:04:50,560 Speaker 1: version was able to restore his blood glucose levels back 68 00:04:50,600 --> 00:04:54,520 Speaker 1: to near normal. Within a matter of hours, One by one, 69 00:04:54,760 --> 00:04:59,120 Speaker 1: the boy's symptoms began to disappear. His life had been saved, 70 00:04:59,440 --> 00:05:01,840 Speaker 1: and he found and himself the poster child for a 71 00:05:01,880 --> 00:05:06,719 Speaker 1: new medical miracle. News of the teen's recovery traveled fast, 72 00:05:07,080 --> 00:05:10,080 Speaker 1: and pretty soon people with diabetes and their loved ones 73 00:05:10,279 --> 00:05:13,520 Speaker 1: were reaching out to Banting and Best, begging to receive 74 00:05:13,560 --> 00:05:18,440 Speaker 1: the treatment. One year later, Banting, Collop and Best were 75 00:05:18,480 --> 00:05:22,080 Speaker 1: awarded US patents for insulin and the method they used 76 00:05:22,120 --> 00:05:25,720 Speaker 1: to make it. However, the men had no intention of 77 00:05:25,800 --> 00:05:30,240 Speaker 1: cashing in on their life saving discovery. Instead, they immediately 78 00:05:30,279 --> 00:05:33,520 Speaker 1: sold their patents to the University of Toronto for one 79 00:05:33,600 --> 00:05:37,880 Speaker 1: dollar each, and the school in turn gave pharmaceutical companies 80 00:05:37,920 --> 00:05:43,000 Speaker 1: worldwide the license to produce insulin royalty free. As doctor 81 00:05:43,040 --> 00:05:47,719 Speaker 1: Banting famously declared, insulin does not belong to me, it 82 00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:52,000 Speaker 1: belongs to the world. The result of that mindset was 83 00:05:52,040 --> 00:05:56,400 Speaker 1: that insulin became widely available, offering a reprieve from certain 84 00:05:56,480 --> 00:06:00,880 Speaker 1: death to millions of diabetics around the world. Later that year, 85 00:06:01,200 --> 00:06:05,479 Speaker 1: Banting and McLeod, but not Best nor Collop, were jointly 86 00:06:05,520 --> 00:06:09,280 Speaker 1: awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine. To this day, it's 87 00:06:09,320 --> 00:06:12,240 Speaker 1: still the fastest that a Nobel Prize has been awarded 88 00:06:12,320 --> 00:06:16,080 Speaker 1: following a medical breakthrough, and once again the men behind 89 00:06:16,120 --> 00:06:20,680 Speaker 1: the discovery displayed great generosity. Banting split his share of 90 00:06:20,720 --> 00:06:24,240 Speaker 1: the monetary prize with Charles Best, and MacLeod did the 91 00:06:24,240 --> 00:06:28,640 Speaker 1: same with JB. Collop. As for Leonard Thompson, he lived 92 00:06:28,680 --> 00:06:33,040 Speaker 1: another thirteen years thanks to insulin. In nineteen thirty five, 93 00:06:33,160 --> 00:06:36,280 Speaker 1: at the age of twenty seven, he passed away from pneumonia, 94 00:06:36,600 --> 00:06:39,760 Speaker 1: which was believed to be a complication of his diabetes. 95 00:06:40,480 --> 00:06:43,960 Speaker 1: Insulin was not a cure, but it was a tremendous 96 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:48,159 Speaker 1: breakthrough in treatment, one that prolonged Leonard's life and countless 97 00:06:48,160 --> 00:06:51,240 Speaker 1: others to an extent that wasn't possible just a few 98 00:06:51,320 --> 00:06:56,120 Speaker 1: years earlier. Type one diabetes was no longer a fatal disease. 99 00:06:56,880 --> 00:07:01,560 Speaker 1: In nineteen twenty four, physician Joseph Collins celebrated that advancement 100 00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:05,200 Speaker 1: in an article for The New York Times. One by one, 101 00:07:05,480 --> 00:07:09,880 Speaker 1: he wrote, the implacable enemies of man, the diseases which 102 00:07:09,920 --> 00:07:15,160 Speaker 1: seek his destruction, are overcome by science. Diabetes, one of 103 00:07:15,200 --> 00:07:21,559 Speaker 1: the most dreaded, is the latest to succumb. I'm Gabe 104 00:07:21,600 --> 00:07:25,000 Speaker 1: Luesier and hopefully you now know a little more about 105 00:07:25,040 --> 00:07:29,120 Speaker 1: history today than you did yesterday. You can learn even 106 00:07:29,200 --> 00:07:32,480 Speaker 1: more about history by following us on Twitter, Facebook, and 107 00:07:32,520 --> 00:07:37,120 Speaker 1: Instagram at TDI HC Show, and if you have any 108 00:07:37,160 --> 00:07:40,080 Speaker 1: comments or suggestions, feel free to send them my way 109 00:07:40,240 --> 00:07:44,720 Speaker 1: by writing to this day at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks 110 00:07:44,720 --> 00:07:47,400 Speaker 1: to Chandler Mays for producing the show, and thanks to 111 00:07:47,440 --> 00:07:50,320 Speaker 1: you for listening. I'll see you back here again tomorrow 112 00:07:50,440 --> 00:08:06,240 Speaker 1: for another day in history class.