News & Research
Diabetes Research Milestones
1910-1949 | 1950-1969 | 1970-1979 | 1980-1989 | 1990-Present
1916
Elliott Joslin, MD, publishes the first edition of The Treatment of Diabetes Mellitus. A clinician and educator, Joslin is renowned throughout the world as one of the most influential voices in diabetes care.
1921
Frederick Banting, MD, and his then student assistant, Charles Best, MD, extract insulin from dog pancreases. They inject the insulin into dogs whose pancreases have been removed, and the animals’ blood sugar levels go down. James Collip purifies the extract so that it can be used in humans.
1923
Eli Lilly and Company begin commercial production of insulin. In the decades that follow, manufacturers develop a variety of slower-acting insulins, the first being protamine insulin introduced by Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals, Inc., in 1936.
1924
At a time when less than half of all babies born to mothers with diabetes survive, Priscilla White, MD, starts the Joslin Pregnancy Clinic. Fifty years later, Dr. White achieves a 90 percent survival rate among babies born to her patients.
1940
The American Diabetes Association (ADA) is founded to address the increasing incidence of diabetes and the complications developing from the disease.
1949
Rachmiel Levine, MD, discovers that insulin works like a key, transporting glucose into cells.
Becton Dickinson and Company begins production of a standardized insulin syringe designed and approved by the ADA.
