100 Years of Insulin in Australia

Abstract

Abstract: In 1921, Frederick Banting and his colleagues in Toronto, Canada, first used insulin for managing type 1 diabetes. Insulin transformed the disease from a death sentence to a chronic condition requiring life-long management. News of the development spread fast, and Australia became an early therapeutic adoptor and manufacturer of insulin; the same year Australian physicians were experimenting with insulin. An estimated 1.8 million Australians live with diabetes; it remains a significant health problem for First Nations Australians. In this witness seminar, the achievements of the first 100 years of insulin are celebrated.