Miracle on Bloor Street

[Northerner]

Ninety years ago this week, one of the greatest miracles in medical history took place. Leonard Thompson, a 14-year-old boy lying on his deathbed at Toronto General Hospital, was snatched from the jaws of death with the injection of a brand new experimental drug.

For three years, young Leonard had starved his body in order to prolong his life. He was following one of the prescribed regimens for the incurable disease that had, throughout history, stolen from children the opportunity to reach adulthood. Leonard’s disease was juvenile diabetes, now commonly known as type 1 diabetes.

http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/1111979--miracle-on-bloor-street

A nice piece of history 🙂 I would highly recommend reading the story of Elizabeth Hughes in Breakthrough

 

[Copepod]

I very much doubt the truth of statement:
"Insulin is today the most widely prescribed drug in medical science."

Even within the single field of diabetes, I'm pretty sure that more people use metformin than insulin, and outside the area of diabetes, other drug groups (and "insulin" comes in many forms) such as anti-depressants, anti-hypertensives, cholesterol-lowering drugs are prescribed to more people. By saying "prescribed", the author does rule out over the counter analgesics / anti fever medication such as paracetamol (called acetaminiphen in North America) and aspirin (also at lower doses used to prevent blood clots).

However, while paracetamol was introduced in 1887 and aspirin was introduced in 1899, most anti-depressants, anti-hypertensives and cholesterol-lowering drugs didn't become commonly used until long after insulin's first use in 1922, so perhaps the author means total usage since discovery / first use?