'George Ludwig Zuelzer' (German spelling- 'Georg Ludwig Zülzer') (
April 10,
1870 -
October 16,
1949) was a German physician who was a native of
Berlin. He practiced medicine in Berlin until 1934, when he emigrated to
New York City. His son, Wolf William Zuelzer (1909-1987) was a noted American
hematologist and
pediatrician.
Zülzer is remembered for his work with
diabetes mellitus. He had some success using
pancreatic extracts on
diabetic dogs, and in 1906 injected an extract called "Acomatrol" into a dying diabetic patient who was in a
coma. At first the patient showed improvement, but later suffered from side-effects, and died when the Acomatrol supply was exhausted. Acomatrol was based on an extract from calf pancreases, and was manufactured by a local company in Berlin.
Afterwards, Zülzer continued to seek a suitable remedy for
diabetes mellitus, but attained little success, and his laboratory was turned over to the German military during World War I. A breakthrough occurred in the early 1920s when American physicians
Frederick Banting and
Charles Best developed an extract that saved the life of a 14-year old diabetic patient.
Reference
★ ''This article is based on a translation of an article from the German Wikipedia''.