" Intarvin "

Insulin, most talked of medical discovery of the century, now has a rival for treating diabetes--intarvin, a form of artificial fat that can be eaten and digested by diabetic patients. It was discovered by Dr. Max Kahn, associate in biological chemistry at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, in collaboration with Dr. Ralph H. McKee, professor of chemical engineering at Columbia. "Intarvin," meaning "intermediate fat," is so named because one molecule of it contains 17 carbon atoms instead of the 16 or 18 usual in ordinary fats. This is the first successful commercial manufacture of a fat with an odd number of carbon atoms, and is hailed as a triumph of synthetic chemistry.

Intarvin, when eaten, is absorbed to the extent of 90% and is then broken down, but does not yield the substances derived from butyric and other acids which are contributing causes of diabetes. It is creamy white, odorless, melts at body temperature, has little taste. It can be eaten straight or in salads, buttermilk or bread. It satisfies the craving of diabetics for fatty foods. After preliminary experiments on animals, intarvin was tried on more than two dozen patients at Beth Israel Hospital, where Dr. Kahn is director of laboratories and attending physician for diseases of metabolism. It alleviated all the cases, some of which were in the final coma, and succeeded in some where insulin had failed. It is not expected to supplant insulin, however, for the two treatments proceed from different principles, insulin being injectel hypodermically to reduce the blood sugar, and intarvin being fed by mouth to prevent acidosis. The first pound of intarvin, made in Professor McKee's laboratory, cost $300 to manufacture, but it is now being made in special laboratories in Long Island City for $9 a pound, and is expected to become still cheaper, and to be put up in palatable tablets or emulsions.

Dr. Kahn gives credit to Dr. H. U. Nolan, an English industrial chemist, for the suggestion of the process of manufacture, though its medical application was worked out by himself and Dr. McKee. Dr. Kahn is 36 years old, a graduate of Cornell Medical School, and has spent four years in constant research on problems of metabolism. Physicians and chemists who are in a position to judge have accepted the scientific foundation of intarvin as sound, and there is reason to believe that it will soon take its place beside insulin as an approved treatment, though neither can yet be called complete.