History Tidbit: Georg Ludwig Zülzer (George Ludwig Zuelzer) April 10, 1870-October 16, 1949
submitted by Alan D. Rogol, MD, Ph.D
Georg Zülzer was a German physician who practiced medicine in Berlin until 1934. Experimentally he used calf pancreatic extract, Acomatol in dogs and humans (Zeitschr Exp Path Ther 1908; 5:307). A few patients improved in terms of symptoms and had transiently diminished glycosuria and ketonuria, but had severe side effects including fever and emesis. His investigative career was interrupted by World War I and then he had to flee the Nazi regime in 1934 when he came to New York. Zülzer’s extraction procedure yielded a “preparation suitable for the treatment of natural diabetes” receiving a German patent (201383) in 1907 and an American one (1027790) in 1912, giving credence for priority of “insulin” treatment for those with diabetes mellitus.