On 11 January 1922, insulin was used for the first time to treat a human patient with diabetes. The groundbreaking procedure was carried out at the Toronto General Hospital in Canada by Dr. Frederick Banting and his medical team, including Charles Best, James Collip, and John Macleod.
The patient was a 14-year-old boy named Leonard Thompson, who was suffering from severe diabetes and was near death. The initial injection had limited success and caused an allergic reaction due to impurities in the extract. However, after improvements were made to purify the insulin by James Collip, a second injection was administered on 23 January 1922, resulting in a dramatic improvement in Thompson's condition.
This historic event marked the beginning of a new era in the treatment of diabetes, transforming what was once a fatal disease into a manageable condition. The discovery and application of insulin earned Frederick Banting and John Macleod the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1923, which Banting shared with Charles Best.
