Open Insulin Foundation
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387
Million peopleThere are currently 387 million people worldwide
living with diabetes. -
2X
Insulin price increase from 2012-2016The few suppliers of insulin have been raising prices in near-synchrony for decades. -
7.6million
Hospitalizations in 2016These price increases lead to long-term health and consequences and deaths.
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What We Do
We’re a team of biohackers with a variety of backgrounds, and skills, and relationships to insulin and diabetes from many cities and countries around the world, including Oakland, California; Baltimore, Maryland; Paraiba, Brazil; Dakar, Senegal; Yaounde, Cameroon; and Puerto Rico. We’re working to develop the first practical, small-scale, community-centered model for insulin production to make insulin accessible to all. We envision a world in which communities in need have local sources of safe, affordable, high-quality insulin, and where people living with diabetes and their communities can own and govern the organizations that produce the medicine they depend on to survive.
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How Do I Participate?
Our work would not be possible without the support of volunteers, interns, and community advisors. We welcome people of all backgrounds from all over the world to bring their enthusiasm, time, connections, and experiences, both in life and in work. Our volunteers promote us on social media, build equipment, run experiments, write reports and blog posts, facilitate meetings, connect with other organizations and groups, meet with experts in the field, run virtual events, and contribute in designing tools, resources, and methods of all sorts. However, we are not able to accept new volunteers at this time.
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Potential Partners
We welcome collaboration with other groups that share our mission―community labs, academic institutions, patient advocacy groups, and NGOs.
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Donate
Your donation will help us get closer to our goal. With a healthy financial situation, we can pay for lab supplies, acquire lab equipment, recruit scientists, and pay for consultation fees for regulation and manufacturing experts.
What People Have To Say About OIF
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Anthony D.Open Insulin FounderThe usual sources on insulin have failed many people with diabetes and left them to die. [...] We are taking over the stewardship of the medicine our lives depend on. -
Alex H.Open Insulin MemberPaying ANY sum for insulin feels like an insult... We're already dealing with so much.
Meet our Community Projects!
Looking for something new to do in the New Year? Eager to inject some more science fun in your life? Ready to meet some like-minded science nerds to hang out with online? Come join us for the Counter Culture Labs Community Projects showcase!
Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, community projects at CCL are thriving, with regular weekly or biweekly zoom meetings for each, and even a trickle of wetlab work still going on. All our community projects are free and open for anyone to join, and NOW is a great time to jump on board!
We will do brief introductions for each of our community projects, and how YOU can get involved:
- Open Insulin
- Real Vegan Cheese and Narwhal evolutionary genomics
- Lab Robotics
- Mushroom Lovers
- Kombucha Genomics
- Covid Chat and Mask-O-Matic
- DIY Gene Gun and antivirals
We’ll also give you a preview of new developments that we have planned for the new year.
Biohackers With Diabetes Are Making Their Own Insulin
Our work began in 2015 at Counter Culture Labs, a community biology lab in Oakland, California with a crowdfunding campaign that raised over $16,000. Our origin story embodies who we are — a team who believes that the people living with diabetes should own and govern the organizations that produce the medicine they depend on to survive.
We are able to pursue our bold mission because of generous and like-minded donors like yourselves.
OIF’s mission has since amassed support from around the world. We have enjoyed broad media coverage that has generated significant market excitement for our insulin and our team has grown to four dozen active volunteers, twenty interns, and a large network of advisors.
If you’d like to see OIF in the news, check out these links:
TIMES
WSJ
NY TIMES
BERKELEY ECONOMIC REVIEW
BALTIMORE SUN
CELL PRESS
ELEMENTAL
The Price of Insulin Has Soared. These Biohackers Have a Plan to Fix It
Our work began in 2015 at Counter Culture Labs, a community biology lab in Oakland, California with a crowdfunding campaign that raised over $16,000. Our origin story embodies who we are — a team who believes that the people living with diabetes should own and govern the organizations that produce the medicine they depend on to survive.
We are able to pursue our bold mission because of generous and like-minded donors like yourselves.
OIF’s mission has since amassed support from around the world. We have enjoyed broad media coverage that has generated significant market excitement for our insulin and our team has grown to four dozen active volunteers, twenty interns, and a large network of advisors.
If you’d like to see OIF in the news, check out these links:
TIMES
WSJ
NY TIMES
BERKELEY ECONOMIC REVIEW
BALTIMORE SUN
CELL PRESS
ELEMENTAL