Practically everyone knows someone who has diabetes. Nearly 3% of the world’s population has it, and its incidence is increasing. Although diabetes cannot yet be cured, some forms of the disease can be managed by having patients take insulin, thus avoiding some of the disease’s worst effects. Part of the world’s population may soon have difficulty obtaining insulin, however.

Last weekend, Novo Nordisk (Bagsværd, Denmark) stopped supplying insulin to Greece rather than comply with a government order to cut the price by 25%. A company spokesperson told the BBC that the price cut would have forced Novo Nordisk’s Greek division to operate at a loss and that the company didn’t want to encourage other countries to demand similar cuts.

The Greek Diabetes Association harshly criticized Novo Nordisk’s decision, calling it “a violation of corporate social responsibility.” In a letter to the company’s chairman, the Greek parent of a diabetic child called the action “insensitive.”
I’m inclined to agree. The Greek price cut is intended to help lower the government’s medical costs as it tries to reduce its debt, the full magnitude of which was concealed by the country’s previous government. If private enterprise benefits from government in various ways (e.g., through patent protection, tax abatements, and research funding), then it should also aid government when the latter needs assistance. This principle should apply not just to Novo Nordisk, but to all companies.

A recent research paper in the journal Microbial Cell Factories may offer insulin producers a way to reduce costs, and these savings could be passed on to governmental or private customers. Chandrasekhar Gurramkonda of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (Braunschweig, Germany) and colleagues developed a new manufacturing method that produces insulin’s precursor molecule in the yeast Pichia pastoris rather than in Escherichia coli or Saccharomyces cerevisiae. P. pastoris’s capacity to reach high cell densities using simple cultivation strategies enables stable and high levels of recombinant-protein production, according to the researchers. In addition, P. pastoris secretes few of its own proteins, which makes it easy to isolate insulin precursor.

The scientists’ system permitted them to increase precursor levels to more than 200% of the highest previously reported yield from P. pastoris. They recovered 95% of the secreted product with a purity of 96%. The researchers believe that their manufacturing technique offers a cheaper way to produce insulin than other methods.

Although I don’t know whether Greece will be able to take advantage of this new manufacturing technique quickly, it could be a great boon to India and other emerging markets. I’m glad that the scientists have tried to spread the word of their technique in an effort to help developing countries. On the heels of the Novo Nordisk decision, their goodwill encourages me that when one door closes, another one opens.

[orig. published June 4, 2010]