[pasquinelli]

The basic science behind insulin-the-drug wasn't innovated by profit seeking corporations. Applying that basic science to make a usable drug wasn't innovated by profit seeking corporations either. A cursory glance at the wikipedia page for insulin tells me the innovation was done be german, american, and canadian scientists at public universities, starting in the 1880s and not developing into a usable drug until the 1920s.

I don't think a profit seeking corporation would've done that.

[disabled]

There have been recent peer-reviewed journal articles about how much insulin would cost to produce for each person with type 1 diabetes per year.

It is somewhere between $75-$125 USD for a person with T1D per year.

Remember, T1D is an autoimmune and insulin-dependent form of diabetes. Within 5 years post-diagnosis (if not much sooner) your body basically effectively no longer produces any insulin whatsoever.

[rayiner]

If the basic science was the hard part, why did it take 40 years to go from basic science to “usable drug?”

[kshacker]

Remember this was before the era of Facebook, even email and fedex now that I think of it, and they might have also been fighting the world war.