Issued this day in 2021: Scott # 3287: Insulin. Design: Subplot Design Inc. 

Issued to mark the centennial anniversary of the discover of Insulin.

Here’s the Canada Post press release that accompanied the release of this stamp which,  “marks the 100th anniversary of the discovery of insulin  Department of Physiology laboratory at the University of Toronto, one of the world’s most important medical breakthroughs.

In 1921, the groundbreaking discovery of Frederick Banting, Charles Best, James Collip and John Macleod placed Canada’s medical researchers on the world stage.

Under Macleod’s oversight, Banting and Best used a pancreatic extract to successfully reduce blood sugar levels in a dog. With the help of biochemist James Collip, they refined the extract now known as insulin before testing it on humans in 1922 then putting it into mass production.

By the end of 1923, insulin had become widely available and Banting and Macleod had jointly been awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work; they chose to share the prize money with Best and Collip. 

Before the discovery of insulin, being diagnosed with what is now known as type 1 diabetes was considered a death sentence. The only way to treat the disease was through an extremely restricted diet that only briefly extended a person’s life. A century later, millions of people with the disease continue to be treated with life-saving insulin.

… the stamp features the image of an early insulin vial resting on an excerpt of Banting’s unpublished memoir. It reflects the very moment he conceived the idea that set in motion events leading to the discovery of insulin.”