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Looked cool, until i scrolled further down. Not only is any info lacking on how it's done and what the status is. There are even a bunch of "community projects"

Looked cool, until i scrolled further down. Not only is any info lacking on how it's done and what the status is. There are even a bunch of "community projects" listed. Among them "Real Vegan Cheese and Narwhal evolutionary genomics" and "Mushroom Lovers". Not judging those, but that's far off from "let's provide the poor with safe and affordable insulin". Feels dishonest, tbh.

Popegaf 5y ago
There's a status report on the blog https://openinsulin.org/our-blog/spring-2021-progress-report-for-open-insulin/ https://openinsulin.org/our-blog/spring-2021-progress-report... But I agree, for being "open" there's a distinct lack of documents, schematics, inventory, videos, pictures, etc.
- theonlybutlet 5y ago
  I wonder if it's patent law that's keeping them secretive. There's a good chance they're trying to reverse engineer the insulin and concerned they may be infringing on manufacturing process patents etc. Once they've got a working formula it'd be easier to change it up to avoid these patents. Big pharma is notoriously litigious and I can see them taking any opportunity to nip this in the bud.
  - consp 5y ago
    > I wonder if it's patent law that's keeping them secretive Many insulin forms are no longer patented. Last year patents (at least in Europe) expired from some quick acting insulin variants and as a result insurers here are forcing everyone to cheaper generics. Side effect: Not all have the same solutions, though the insulin is the same. Despite what the insurers say, YMMV if you switch due to different solutions being present. So I do not think patents on the product is a real issue. Maybe patents on the production method.
    - RHSeeger 5y ago
      > cheaper generics Interestingly, they're really not much cheaper, either. On the order of 10% cheaper, I believe.
  - GravitasFailure 5y ago
    There's a research exemption to patent law in the US, but that might not apply if they're publishing the details with a how-to manual.
sschueller 5y ago
Wouldn't it be easier to raise funds and lobby Congress to get laws passed to make insulin basically free in the US and defacto pushing that globally? Trying to make your own has a lot of steps that need to go right or people die. You also have to deal with regulators.
- pankajdoharey 5y ago
  Yes thats the right way, making Healthcare free for all is the only way, US has to learn from Canadians, Brits or dozen other EU countries.
  - consp 5y ago
    "free" is relative. For instance we have a tax on chronically ill people here called "eigenrisico" (literally your own risk) which is not a tax but is meant for people to not seek help unless it is absolutely necessary and then pay for the cost. Some things are excluded but as soon as you need more than basic help or any medicine it comes into play. So it's a tax on being ill in all but name since it resets every year. So "free" comes in many forms, not all single player.
    - caddybox 5y ago
      I'd be wary of calling it a tax. As you pointed out it's an amount large enough to warr off spurious medical needs and small enough that if you're really injured or suffering, it can be extremely helpful and is a miniscule part of your medical fees. What's broken is the huisarts system where any efforts to get specialized care when you're in pain must pass through your GP. This often leads to a longer waiting period that can be excruciatingly painful for some.
      - relaxing 5y ago
        In the US it’s called “needing a referral.”
        5y ago
pankajdoharey 5y ago
Making Insulin is entirely possible todo if you have the right yeast strain it could manufacture Insulin instead of alcohol, i would presume they are attempting to do something similar. The problem is in order to be accepted as safe medicine it has to be certified, QA etc ... by the time they do that it would have Become Big Pharma they are trying to fight. Without a proper plan it will fail. Insulin isnt some home remedy one will consume. It has to be intravenous which makes it problem.
- DoreenMichele 5y ago
  If they really, really want to do this, I did read something years ago about a woman trapped in a city because of political stuff and having to go get, I think, organ meats from the butcher to come up with a homemade insulin source. The thing I read did not go into specifics and I don't recall much. I think maybe it was an American woman trapped in an Asian city with political drama interfering with supply lines for critical items like insulin. I don't know how you would find this info, but I believe it actually exists. We just don't really bother to try to record and distribute that type thing because no one gets rich off of it.
  - pankajdoharey 5y ago
    Irrespective of the actual mechanism they employ, though i think genetically modified Yeast is the most cost effective way to do this, the real concern will remain safety.
    - DoreenMichele 5y ago
      That depends in part on exactly how this fresh meat source of insulin was used. If it was something consumed as part of the diet and not injected, then safety becomes much, much less problematic. The story gave no details on how she handled it. Just that she did under circumstances where insulin was simply not available and she lived to tell the tale.
      - pankajdoharey 5y ago
rafaelferreira 5y ago
Their "What We Do" page has some more detail, but not a whole lot: https://openinsulin.org/what-we-do/ https://openinsulin.org/what-we-do/ > To produce the protein needed for insulin, we need to grow microorganisms with a bioreactor and purify the protein from the culture with a protein purification system (FPLC). Proprietary examples of this equipment come at a very high initial cost and with high ongoing costs of support from the manufacturers. Our goal is to develop easy to manage, easy to repair, and affordable equipment to sustain local and community-built insulin production. > Our FPLC design is in the early stages, and we are steadily developing mechanical and electrical designs to detect UV-C absorbance and manage the concentration of two buffers via peristaltic pumps and a mixing chamber. We plan to use Arduino microcontrollers as well as the Raspberry Pi, and the finished device will make use of the open-source Ender 3 3D Printer to facilitate automated fraction collection with G-CODE input. The bioreactor design makes use of quite a few commercial off-the-shelf parts and is ready for prototyping.
- jlg23 5y ago
  Their blog was much more insightful to me, here the Spring 2021 Progress Report: https://openinsulin.org/our-blog/spring-2021-progress-report-for-open-insulin/ https://openinsulin.org/our-blog/spring-2021-progress-report...
moron4hire 5y ago
The vegan cheese and other stuff is not part of Open Insulin. The block of text in which that is printed is a blogroll for a meetup of Counter Culture Labs where Open Insulin is also presenting.

Popegaf 5y ago

There's a status report on the blog https://openinsulin.org/our-blog/spring-2021-progress-report-for-open-insulin/ https://openinsulin.org/our-blog/spring-2021-progress-report... But I agree, for being "open" there's a distinct lack of documents, schematics, inventory, videos, pictures, etc.

theonlybutlet 5y ago
I wonder if it's patent law that's keeping them secretive. There's a good chance they're trying to reverse engineer the insulin and concerned they may be infringing on manufacturing process patents etc. Once they've got a working formula it'd be easier to change it up to avoid these patents. Big pharma is notoriously litigious and I can see them taking any opportunity to nip this in the bud.
- consp 5y ago
  > I wonder if it's patent law that's keeping them secretive Many insulin forms are no longer patented. Last year patents (at least in Europe) expired from some quick acting insulin variants and as a result insurers here are forcing everyone to cheaper generics. Side effect: Not all have the same solutions, though the insulin is the same. Despite what the insurers say, YMMV if you switch due to different solutions being present. So I do not think patents on the product is a real issue. Maybe patents on the production method.
  - RHSeeger 5y ago
    > cheaper generics Interestingly, they're really not much cheaper, either. On the order of 10% cheaper, I believe.
- GravitasFailure 5y ago
  There's a research exemption to patent law in the US, but that might not apply if they're publishing the details with a how-to manual.

sschueller 5y ago

Wouldn't it be easier to raise funds and lobby Congress to get laws passed to make insulin basically free in the US and defacto pushing that globally? Trying to make your own has a lot of steps that need to go right or people die. You also have to deal with regulators.

pankajdoharey 5y ago
Yes thats the right way, making Healthcare free for all is the only way, US has to learn from Canadians, Brits or dozen other EU countries.
- consp 5y ago
  "free" is relative. For instance we have a tax on chronically ill people here called "eigenrisico" (literally your own risk) which is not a tax but is meant for people to not seek help unless it is absolutely necessary and then pay for the cost. Some things are excluded but as soon as you need more than basic help or any medicine it comes into play. So it's a tax on being ill in all but name since it resets every year. So "free" comes in many forms, not all single player.
  - caddybox 5y ago
    I'd be wary of calling it a tax. As you pointed out it's an amount large enough to warr off spurious medical needs and small enough that if you're really injured or suffering, it can be extremely helpful and is a miniscule part of your medical fees. What's broken is the huisarts system where any efforts to get specialized care when you're in pain must pass through your GP. This often leads to a longer waiting period that can be excruciatingly painful for some.
    - relaxing 5y ago
      In the US it’s called “needing a referral.”
      - 5y ago

pankajdoharey 5y ago

Making Insulin is entirely possible todo if you have the right yeast strain it could manufacture Insulin instead of alcohol, i would presume they are attempting to do something similar. The problem is in order to be accepted as safe medicine it has to be certified, QA etc ... by the time they do that it would have Become Big Pharma they are trying to fight. Without a proper plan it will fail. Insulin isnt some home remedy one will consume. It has to be intravenous which makes it problem.

DoreenMichele 5y ago
If they really, really want to do this, I did read something years ago about a woman trapped in a city because of political stuff and having to go get, I think, organ meats from the butcher to come up with a homemade insulin source. The thing I read did not go into specifics and I don't recall much. I think maybe it was an American woman trapped in an Asian city with political drama interfering with supply lines for critical items like insulin. I don't know how you would find this info, but I believe it actually exists. We just don't really bother to try to record and distribute that type thing because no one gets rich off of it.
- pankajdoharey 5y ago
  Irrespective of the actual mechanism they employ, though i think genetically modified Yeast is the most cost effective way to do this, the real concern will remain safety.
  - DoreenMichele 5y ago
    That depends in part on exactly how this fresh meat source of insulin was used. If it was something consumed as part of the diet and not injected, then safety becomes much, much less problematic. The story gave no details on how she handled it. Just that she did under circumstances where insulin was simply not available and she lived to tell the tale.
    - pankajdoharey 5y ago

rafaelferreira 5y ago

Their "What We Do" page has some more detail, but not a whole lot: https://openinsulin.org/what-we-do/ https://openinsulin.org/what-we-do/ > To produce the protein needed for insulin, we need to grow microorganisms with a bioreactor and purify the protein from the culture with a protein purification system (FPLC). Proprietary examples of this equipment come at a very high initial cost and with high ongoing costs of support from the manufacturers. Our goal is to develop easy to manage, easy to repair, and affordable equipment to sustain local and community-built insulin production. > Our FPLC design is in the early stages, and we are steadily developing mechanical and electrical designs to detect UV-C absorbance and manage the concentration of two buffers via peristaltic pumps and a mixing chamber. We plan to use Arduino microcontrollers as well as the Raspberry Pi, and the finished device will make use of the open-source Ender 3 3D Printer to facilitate automated fraction collection with G-CODE input. The bioreactor design makes use of quite a few commercial off-the-shelf parts and is ready for prototyping.

jlg23 5y ago
Their blog was much more insightful to me, here the Spring 2021 Progress Report: https://openinsulin.org/our-blog/spring-2021-progress-report-for-open-insulin/ https://openinsulin.org/our-blog/spring-2021-progress-report...

moron4hire 5y ago

The vegan cheese and other stuff is not part of Open Insulin. The block of text in which that is printed is a blogroll for a meetup of Counter Culture Labs where Open Insulin is also presenting.