Editing Insulin (section)

=== Patent ===
Toward the end of January 1922, tensions mounted between the four "co-discoverers" of insulin and Collip briefly threatened to separately [[patent]] his purification process. [[John G. FitzGerald]], director of the non-commercial public health institution [[Connaught Laboratories]], therefore stepped in as peacemaker. The resulting agreement of 25 January 1922 established two key conditions: 1) that the collaborators would sign a contract agreeing not to take out a patent with a commercial pharmaceutical firm during an initial working period with Connaught; and 2) that no changes in research policy would be allowed unless first discussed among FitzGerald and the four collaborators.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://insulin.library.utoronto.ca/islandora/object/insulin%3AW10033|title=Memorandum in reference to the co-operation of the Connaught Antitoxin Laboratories in the researches conducted by Dr. Banting, Mr. Best and Dr. Collip under the general direction of Professor J.J.R. Macleod to obtain an extract of pancreas having a specific effect on blood sugar concentration|last=University of Toronto Board of Governors Insulin Committee|date=25 January 1922|website=University of Toronto Libraries}}</ref> It helped contain disagreement and tied the research to Connaught's public mandate.

Initially, Macleod and Banting were particularly reluctant to patent their process for insulin on grounds of [[medical ethics]]. However, concerns remained that a private third-party would hijack and monopolize the research (as [[Eli Lilly and Company]] had hinted<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Bliss M |title=The discovery of insulin |date=2007|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-05899-3|edition= 25th anniversary |location=Chicago|pages=132|oclc=74987867|quote=The Lilly company would be delighted to work with Toronto, [[George Henry Alexander Clowes|Clowes]] wrote, and hinted, perhaps intentionally, perhaps not, that Toronto could be bypassed: "I have thus far refrained from starting work in our laboratories on the field of this question as I was anxious to avoid in any way intruding on the field of yourself and your associates until you had published your results. I feel, however, that the matter is now one of such immediate importance that we should take up the experimental end of the question without delay, preferably cooperating with you and your associates..."}}</ref>), and that safe distribution would be difficult to guarantee without capacity for quality control. To this end, [[Edward Calvin Kendall]] gave valuable advice. He had isolated [[thyroxin]] at the [[Mayo Clinic]] in 1914 and patented the process through an arrangement between himself, the brothers Mayo, and the [[University of Minnesota]], transferring the patent to the public university.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://insulin.library.utoronto.ca/islandora/object/insulin%3AL10262|title=Letter to Dr. J. J. R. Macleod 10/04/1922| vauthors = Kendall EC |date=10 April 1922|website=University of Toronto Libraries: Discovery and Early Development of Insulin}}</ref> On 12 April, Banting, Best, Collip, Macleod, and FitzGerald wrote jointly to the president of the [[University of Toronto]] to propose a similar arrangement with the aim of assigning a patent to the Board of Governors of the university.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://insulin.library.utoronto.ca/islandora/object/insulin%3AW10029|title=Statement read by J. J. R. Macleod at the Insulin Committee meeting regarding patents and royalties 28/04/1924| vauthors = Macleod JJ |date=28 April 1924|website=University of Toronto Libraries: The Discovery and Early Development of Insulin}}</ref> The letter emphasized that:<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Bliss M |title=The discovery of insulin |date=2007|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-05899-3|edition= 25th anniversary |location=Chicago|pages=131–133|oclc=74987867}}</ref>{{blockquote|The patent would not be used for any other purpose than to prevent the taking out of a patent by other persons. When the details of the method of preparation are published anyone would be free to prepare the extract, but no one could secure a profitable monopoly.}}The assignment to the University of Toronto Board of Governors was completed on 15 January 1923, for the token payment of $1.00.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://insulin.library.utoronto.ca/islandora/object/insulin%3AQ10013 |title=Assignment to the Governors of the University of Toronto| vauthors = Banting FG, Best C, Collip JS |date=15 January 1923|website=University of Toronto Libraries: Discovery and Early Development of Insulin}}</ref> The arrangement was congratulated in ''[[The World's Work]]'' in 1923 as "a step forward in medical ethics".<ref>{{cite web |url= https://insulin.library.utoronto.ca/islandora/object/insulin%3AW10031 |title=Copy of the article: A step forward in medical ethics|date=February 1923|website=University of Toronto Libraries: The Discovery and Early Development of Insulin|publisher=The World's Work}}</ref> It has also received much media attention in the 2010s regarding the issue of [[Health care prices in the United States|healthcare]] and [[Prescription drug prices in the United States|drug affordability]].

Following further concern regarding Eli Lilly's attempts to separately patent parts of the manufacturing process, Connaught's Assistant Director and Head of the Insulin Division [[Robert Defries]] established a patent pooling policy which would require producers to freely share any improvements to the manufacturing process without compromising affordability.<ref name="Bliss_2007">{{cite book |title=The discovery of insulin | vauthors = Bliss M |date=2007 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-05899-3 |edition= 25th anniversary |location=Chicago |pages=181 |oclc=74987867}}</ref>