Insulin: The lucky coin toss and improbable partnership that led to this life-saving elixir

Game Changers in Medicine

Currently, more than 460 million people have some form diabetes. However, what was once a life-threatening disease is now a manageable condition thanks to the discovery of insulin.
In today’s episode you’ll meet the young Canadian surgeon, Dr. Frederick Banting, and learn how the three sentences he scribbled in the middle of the night changed the course of medical history: “Diabetes. Ligate pancreatic ducts of dog. Keep dogs alive till acini degenerate leaving islets. Try to isolate the internal secretion of these and relieve glycosuria.”
What do these words mean, exactly, and how was it that Banting and his unlikely team of collaborators managed not only to discover life-saving insulin, but to do it in record time?
Listen to find out.

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