100 Years of Insulin in Australia

• Main Authors: Colagiuri, Stephen, Wilkinson, Roger, Storey, Catherine, Cuthbertson, Andrew, Bennett, Clive N., Lush, Studley, Cox, Emma (Sainsbury), Bootcov, Michelle, Coleborne, Catharine
• Other Authors: The University of Newcastle. College of Human & Social Futures, School of Humanities, Creative Industries and Social Science
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Australian and New Zealand Society of the History of Medicine 2023
• Subjects: insulin; diabetes; life-long management; 100 years; First Nations
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1506428

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.2 In this witness seminar, the achievements of the first 100 years of insulin are celebrated.