What is Type One Diabetes?
By: Hope LaFever
Living in the heart of southern America it comes to no surprise that most things are cheaper here. Just yesterday the gas price ran at an average of $1.50 per gallon. One thing that coincides with the rest of the United States would be the annual rising price of the life saving drug, insulin.
According to a 2015 CDC study, it was reported that 30.3 million people in the U.S, or 9.4% of the population, were living with Type One Diabetes, and an annual of 1.5 million newly diagnosed with the disease every year. What is Type One Diabetes, or T1D for short? The disease is an autoimmune disorder in which the white blood cells in a person’s body attack the beta insulin producing cells in the pancreas, leaving the person insulin dependent for the rest of their life. This form of the disease is often confused with Type Two Diabetes, in which a person’s body becomes resistant to the insulin produced.
It is still a medical mystery as to how this disease even occurs, or why the immune system goes rogue to begin with. A 2018 CDC report did however tie a link to what may trigger the body’s response to go into hyperdrive. The report stated that the non-polio Coxsackie B4 Enterovirus could be what induces the immune response leaving those with weaker immune systems more likely to develop T1D. While the autoimmune disease is not contagious, viruses are, meaning should a vaccine come to treat the enterovirus it could grant immunity to those who contract the virus and prevent the onset of development of T1D all together.
In 1922 four Canadian medical scientists, Fredrick Banting, Charles Best, John MacLeod, and James Collip, administered the first successful injection of insulin. By the 23rd of January 1923, Banting, Best, and Collip were awarded the American patents for insulin. The same year Banting and MacLeod were awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine. Banting, Best, and Collip were go on to sell their insulin patents to the University of Ontario for $1 each. When Banting sold his patent he said, “Insulin does not belong to me. It belongs to the world.”
While there is no known cure to T1D as of 2020, the treatment for the disease is to administer insulin, via an insulin pump or injections, along with glucose testing multiple times per day. By doing so it assures that a T1D is able to live a somewhat normal life. Unless the person cannot afford proper care and treatment, which has led to numerous deaths of T1D’s who rationed their insulin such as: Alec Smith, Shane Boyle Antavia Lee-Worsham, Jesse Lutgen and countless others.
Living in America with this disease comes with the financial burden of “how am I going to afford this life saving drug this month?” Or even worse, leaving those who cannot afford the drug to ration their supply, or travel outside of the country where insulin is sold for less than a tenth of the price here in America. My insulin supply runs at $2,400 for an 83 day supply, that does not include the additional cost of supplies used to administer the insulin or treatment. There are three main manufacturers of insulin: Eli Lily - based in the United States, Novo Nordisk - based in Denmark, and Sanofi - based in France. Over the last 10 years insulin prices have rose over 1,200% for a single vial of insulin which cost $3 to manufacture.
I spoke with T1International trustee James Elliot about the current state of the world, and how diabetics to which he stated, “Your friends have T1D. Your family has T1D whether or not you want to acknowledge that. They [insulin manufacturers] are not your friends, they are not your family. These are multinational corporations… selling insulin that costs $3 a vial to make is made by the metric ton and they’re selling that vial for $300-$500. People need to get real, you can’t replace your friends and family when they’re gone, and they are going, they are dying.” Elliot went on to mention in another interview that, “The lives of people with Type One Diabetes are not valued. If they were we wouldn’t be dying.”
Living in America during a global pandemic is scary. Top it off with a chronic illness and the fear of not being able to afford your medication, your rent, or your food. Sounds like the perfect plot for an apocalyptic movie. However with access to proper supplies, managing this disease is as normal as anyone else’s life. It just takes a bit more planning.