 [ Symptoms ] what is type 1 diabetes [ Disease ] prior to the discovery of insulin there was no way for people with iddm to survive without the hormone the  isugar sickness was a wasting syndrome which left people with insulin dependant diabetes unable to process foods people were treated with diet restrictions or starvation diets in order to help them survive this condition lead to early death in 1922 healthcare providers were able to treat this condition with insulin the drug was first mass produced by eli lilly and later by novo nordisk insulin is currently produced by a technology that uses human insulin or proinsulin genes that are injected into yeast or e coli these can mass produce a human form of insulin which is used to treat diabetes