Summary

This article discusses evidence supporting the efforts to develop longer-acting insulin therapy. The importance of insulin therapy and associated glycemic control is incontestable. Prior to the discovery of insulin in the early 1920s, the life expectancy of a 10-year-old diagnosed with type 1 diabetes was only 2.6 years. In the early years following the introduction of insulin, the life expectancy of a 10-year-old patient with diabetes had increased to 24.3 years and had leapt to 55 years 2 decades later [Joslin EP. Diabetic Manual for the Doctor and Patient, 9th Ed. 1957].