The First Genetically Engineered Drug: Recombinant Human Insulin

Comments on the First Genetically Engineered Drug
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1 “Lilly’s interest in developing human insulin as a fermentation product, in its simplest terms, was one of supply and demand. The number of insulin-using diabetic patients had been growing rapidly, owing to factors such as greater awareness and improved methods of detection, changes in dietary habits, and the availability of insulin itself (which allowed diabetics, who otherwise did not usually live beyond their teens, to live long, productive, and reproductive, lives).” (Johnson, 2003, p. 747).
In this statement, we can observe that medical innovation is not solely dependent on the need to advance scientific technologies. Instead, it is also dependent on the supply and demand curve, which means that medicine is not just a treatment but also a form of business after all. This statement demonstrated that producing insulin was directly proportional to the demand. Furthermore, the peak in demand is secondary to the increased awareness of diabetic patients due to the innovations in its diagnosis and treatment. Moreover, since the existing treatment gave hope to the patients to have a longer life span, they opted to sought consult rather than let their lives be at stake. Hence, this resulted in higher demand.
2 “I have always felt that scientists have a responsibility to explain what they are doing and why they are doing it, if there are any public concerns about their research. I felt that this had to be done in terms that laymen could understand, and that almost any new technology could be explained in such terms. People do not usually fear things they understand, but might fear things they do not understand.” (Johnson, 2003, ...