As time goes by

World Diabetes Day is on November 14. Here are the discoveries and developments that changed the lives of people living with diabetes

A brief history of diabetes treatments

History has it that the very first reference to what we now know as diabetes was made more than 3500 years ago. But it wasn’t until just over a century ago, in the early 1900s, that medical scientists began to make significant discoveries and breakthroughs that would lead to the diabetes knowledge, advocacy and treatments we take for granted today.

Here’s how it all played out.

1910

After researchers discovered in the late 1880s that animals develop symptoms of diabetes if their pancreas is removed, British physiologist Sir Edward Albert Sharpey-Schafer decides to examine the organ more closely. He was the first to discover a substance that’s produced by people who don’t have diabetes: insulin.

1922

The first insulin injection is given to a person – 14-year-old Leonard Thompson, who’d been diagnosed with diabetes when he was 12. It came after the discovery that when insulin extracted from healthy dogs was injected into dogs with diabetes, their BGLs went down. Leonard’s injections were a great success – while the

average life expectancy of a child with diabetes at the beginning of the century was roughly a year, post diagnosis, Leonard lives until the age of 27. In 1923 a pharmaceutical company began producing insulin commercially.

1936

Although insulin injections were effective, they didn’t work for everyone. In 1936 it’s finally discovered that there are two different types of diabetes, and that some people living with the disease still produce insulin. The different types were labelled ‘insulin-sensitive diabetes’ and ‘insulin-insensitive diabetes’.

1937

Australia’s first Diabetic Association is formed in NSW. It wasn’t until the early 1950s that similar associations were formed in other states and territories.

1945

The improvement of insulin treatments means that by the mid-1940s, the life expectancy of someone with type 1 is increasing, so that a newly-diagnosed 10-year-old now has a life expectancy of 45 years.

1953

Tablets that test urine glucose are now widely available, and over the next few years, urine test strips start to appear, too. Once these became available for use at home, it made measuring and monitoring BGLs a lot easier and faster.

1955

The first oral drug capable of lowering BGLs is developed. Called carbutamide, it was the first generation of a class of medication called sulfonylureas, which stimulate the pancreas to release more insulin. Newer, more potent sulfonylureas are still used today to treat type 2.

1957

The Diabetes Federation of Australia (renamed Diabetes Australia in 1987) is formed.

1964

The first test strips that measure blood glucose by colour code are launched.

1970

The first blood glucose meter hits the shelves.

1972

The relationship between high BGLs and the blood vessel disease that’s responsible for many diabetesrelated complications is reported for the first time.

1976

The first insulin pump, developed to mimic the body’s normal release of insulin, is invented. A portable version appears just two years later but while effective, its large size means it’s not yet a practical option for people living with type 1.

1977

The all-important HbA1c test, which shows an average of your BGL over the past 10-12 weeks, is introduced.

1982

The first biosynthetic insulin is approved for use. Prior to this, insulin manufacturers had to stockpile pancreatic tissue from animals.

1985

The first insulin pen delivery system, called the NovoPen, is released.

1990

Having been known as adult-onset diabetes for decades, in the 1990s it’s officially renamed as type 2 diabetes to reflect the fact that more and more young people were being diagnosed with it. Today, it’s estimated that over the next 40 years type 2 in children and adolescents will rise to be four times the current rate.

1991

The first World Diabetes Day is held. Launched by the World Health Organisation in response to the rapid rise of the number of cases of diabetes, November 14 was chosen as the date because it was the birthday of one of the scientists who pioneered insulin therapy.

1993

A study proves that when people living with diabetes can keep their BGLs within the ‘normal’ range as consistently as possible, they slow the onset and progression of the eye, kidney and nerve diseases that diabetes

can cause.

1995

Metformin, one of the most common tablets used to help manage type 2, is launched. Over the next two decades a variety of new medications, all of which work slightly differently, are developed and approved for use.

Today, more than 60 years since the first oral diabetes medication made inroads, six different classes of diabetes tablets are available to help manage type 2.

2013

An artificial pancreas, combining insulin pump technology and a continuous glucose monitor, is trialled at the University of Cambridge in the UK.

2015

A Scottish study finds that people with type 1 now have a life expectancy of little more than a decade less than people without diabetes. Previously the gap was between 15 and 27 years.

2019

After hitting the headlines in 2015, earlier this year it was announced that a bionic pancreas designed to revolutionise type 1 treatment, is now undergoing a clinical trial.

Called the iLet, the trial marks an important milestone in development and potential launch.