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100 Years of Insulin: Accelerating Canadian Discoveries to Defeat Diabetes

The discovery of insulin as a treatment of diabetes is the most celebrated Canadian medical discovery of the 20^th Century. The scientific breakthrough, which would dramatically improve the lives of millions of people affected by diabetes and revolutionize the treatment for the fatal disease, earned Drs. Frederick Banting and J.J.R. Macleod, of the University of Toronto, the Nobel Prize in 1923. 

In 2021, Canada will mark the 100^th anniversary of the landmark discovery. To commemorate this landmark event, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes (CIHR-INMD) is launching a large-scale strategic research initiative called 100 Years of Insulin: Accelerating Canadian Discoveries to Defeat Diabetes.

This strategic research initiative will include a focus on diabetes’ complications, including kidney disease.
“We are pleased that The Kidney Foundation is able to collaborate with CIHR to create a specific funding pool on diabetic kidney disease,” said Elizabeth Myles, The Kidney Foundation’s National Executive Director. “We know that diabetes is a leading cause of kidney failure and that, conversely, kidney failure often leads to diabetes. The hope is that further research into this connection could result in improved treatment options for diabetic kidney disease.“

The Kidney Foundation and CIHR will each contribute $1 million over five years, starting in 2022.  CIHR-INMD and The Kidney Foundation have a long-standing successful relationship and have worked together on developing and funding the world-class Kidney Research Scientist Core Education and National Training program (KRESCENT) for the last 15 years.

The Need for More Research
Since 2000, the number of Canadians with diabetes has doubled. In 2019, 11 million Canadians were living with prediabetes or diabetes. The costs of treating the disease have raised from $14 billion in 2008 to just under $30 billion. These numbers are expected to increase largely as a result of the aging population and increasing obesity rates.ⁱ 

Up to one half of people with diabetes will show signs of kidney disease during their lifetime.ⁱⁱ  Moreover, diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure in Canada with close to 40% of new dialysis patients having diabetes.ⁱⁱⁱ  Between 1990 and 2012, the number of deaths attributed to diabetic kidney disease rose by 94%.<sup>iv 


i</sup> Diabetes Canada. (2018). Diabetes 360^o: A Framework for a Diabetes Strategy for Canada. https://www.diabetes.ca/DiabetesCanadaWebsite/media/Advocacy-and-Policy/Diabetes-360-Recommendations.pdf  
ⁱⁱ McFarlane, P., Cherney, D., Gilbert, R. E., & Senior, P. (2018). Chronic Kidney Disease in Diabetes. Canadian Journal of Diabetes, 42, S201–S209. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcjd.2017.11.004  
ⁱⁱⁱ Canadian Institute for Health Information. (2019). Annual Statistics on Organ Replacement in Canada: Dialysis, Transplantation and Donation, 2009 to 2018. https://www.cihi.ca/sites/default/files/document/corr-snapshot-2019-en.pdf 
^iv Lozano, Rafael & Naghavi, Mohsen & Foreman, Kyle & Lim, Sangjoon & Shibuya, Kenji & Aboyans, Victor & Abraham, Jerry & Adair, Tim & Aggarwal, Rakesh & Ahn, Stephanie & Alvarado, Miriam & Anderson, H & Anderson, Laurie & Andrews, Kathryn & Atkinson, Charles & Baddour, Larry & Barker, Suzanne & Bartels, David & Bell, Michelle & Memish, Ziad. (2012). Global and regional mortality from 235 causes of death for 20 age groups in 1990 and 2010: A systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010. The Lancet. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(12)61728-0