Biotech entrepreneur Alfred E. Mann dies at 90

Sad day for the world today. This man brought us the insulin pump. He was a major driving force in the United States Space Program. He spent over $1 billion dollars of his own money to bring us afrezza, knowing full well at his age he’d never see a return on that investment.

Few men in history have ever changed the world. He was one of them. May he rest in peace.

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Spot on @Sam19.

Thank you Mr. Mann for everything you did to make our lives a little easier. Rest in peace.

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A truly great and giving person. May he rest in peace.

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Al Mann made a difference in my life. Not many people can take credit for helping so many in a positive way over the duration of their lives. Al Mann’s effort to develop an insulin pump saved me from the vagaries of Regular and NPH dosing with a smoother and better way to treat diabetes.

I wasn’t aware of Al Mann then. It wasn’t until the development of Afrezza did I read about his history. While he did become wealthy in his lifetime, I got the sense that he was not driven by money but by the passion to help his fellow human beings. His was a life well spent and I am grateful for his efforts.

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Videos related to Al Mann:

Interviews of Al Mann:

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A lovely article clearly celebrating a brilliant, commited and caring human being Alfred E. Mann, entrepreneur behind the rechargeable pacemaker and an artificial retina, dies at 90

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rip, Alfred E. Mann.

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I am very saddened by this news! :frowning:

Thanks for touching so many lives, Mr. Mann!

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I originally said few men in history had changed the world. Of those who have, far far fewer have selflessly changed it for the better.

When he left this world, it was a better place because of him. A handful of men (or women) of this caliber could solve most of the world’s problems if they put their minds together… Unfortunately they only come along a few times in history.

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very true, some have changed this world for the better,.

On my Facebook feed I have items about him coming not only from the diabetes community but also from the blindness community. He invented the artificial retina, which is becoming an ever-closer option for people who are totally blind due to certain eye diseases to regain a small amount of usable vision. He has indeed made more positive contributions to this world than most, many of which will continue to have far-reaching effects on making peoples’ lives better.

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Also invented the first rechargeable pacemaker… So many tremendous advances in the world were hatched solely inside this man’s brain… And his heart completely drove the follow through to ensure the world benefitted from his ground breaking ideas. I can only hope that someday I’d have the opportunity to even shake the hand of someone anywhere near this brilliant.

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God bless you, Al Mann. We have lost our guardian angel. Al Mann had a vision to make the blind see, restore movement to paralyzed limbs, keep cardiac patients alive until they could get transplants, devices used in orthopedic surgery of the spine, pacemaker, portable defribrillators, just a short list that comes to mind. For diabetics like my daughter, the insulin pump and his latest miracle, Afrezza. And despite it’s current lack of acceptance by endos and the diabetic community in general, make no mistake, Afrezza is a miracle. At least it has been for my daughter in her first year of college. She is stable all night long and wakes up in range. Overnights have always been a problem for her. Naturally, we watched insulin on board and night time meals, snacks. Still, for some reason, always unstable overnight. Lows or highs. Whereas days relatively stable. She has been in range overnights within a month after first use. Al Mann understood this was because Afrezza stops glucogenesis in the liver overnight and days as well. So for us and her this is a miracle. She has the gift of peaceful, overnight sleep, the gift of freedom, peace of mind, total lack of anxiety. A tremendous load has been lifted from her shoulders and mine. Afrezza must survive. I believe it will because a drug this superior cannot fail. People may be cautious about adopting it but if it can stay on the market long enough for people to know that it is safe, many people will choose to use it. And I want my daughter to continue to have that option. If she could have had Afrezza in childhood, her childhood would have been carefree. Maybe one day… I hope Mr. Mann was not too disheartened by not witnessing Afrezza’s success. I know he is watching us from above and sitting at the right hand side of God. To my family he is as close to God as a human can get, although I have never met him. Some people live well into their hundreds. What a pity a man like this could not. He worked until the very end, completely selfless, and never had a true retirement.

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Just thought I’d add a few more specifics on some of Al Mann’s inventions and contributions to humanity. And this list is a partial list, there are many more. I am copying this from the Mannkind boards (I am not an investor but reading them to keep up with vital news (to our family) about Afrezza and it’s future). There is only one other man I can think of who could accomplish all this and he did it through miracles, not through science. This quote is from one of the stockholders on the Mannkind board. Quote:
"He helped the blind see (Second Sight);
and the deaf hear (Advanced Bionics cochlear implants);
and the lame walk (Bioness and AMF are both developing systems to enable the lame to walk).
During his lifetime, Alfred E Mann brought light to those who lived in the shadow of death:
•Pacesetter Systems, Inc., which developed, manufactured and distributed cardiac pacemakers, from 1972 until 1985 when it was acquired by Siemens, AG. From 1985 to September 1992, Mr. Mann continued to serve as Chairman and CEO of the successor company, Siemens-Pacesetter, Inc., Pacesetter is now the Cardiac Rhythm Management unit of St. Jude Medical;
•MiniMed Inc (acquired by Medtronic, Inc. in August 2001) revolutionized diabetes treatment with its insulin pump;
•Mann founded and endowed, and from 1985 until 2006 served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of The Alfred Mann Foundation, a nonprofit research organization devoted to development of advanced medical products in a variety of fields. Mr. Mann was Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Alfred Mann Institutes at the University of Southern California and The Technion Institute (Israel), medical research foundations founded and endowed principally by Mr. Mann.

He helped the blind see (Second Sight);

and the deaf hear (Advanced Bionics cochlear implants);

and the lame walk (Bioness and AMF are both developing systems to enable the lame to walk).

During his lifetime, Alfred E Mann brought light to those who lived in the shadow of death:

•Pacesetter Systems, Inc., which developed, manufactured and distributed cardiac pacemakers, from 1972 until 1985 when it was acquired by Siemens, AG. From 1985 to September 1992, Mr. Mann continued to serve as Chairman and CEO of the successor company, Siemens-Pacesetter, Inc., Pacesetter is now the Cardiac Rhythm Management unit of St. Jude Medical;

•MiniMed Inc (acquired by Medtronic, Inc. in August 2001) revolutionized diabetes treatment with its insulin pump;

•Mann founded and endowed, and from 1985 until 2006 served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of The Alfred Mann Foundation, a nonprofit research organization devoted to development of advanced medical products in a variety of fields. Mr. Mann was Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Alfred Mann Institutes at the University of Southern California and The Technion Institute (Israel), medical research foundations founded and endowed principally by Mr. Mann.
•MannKind Corporation, which develops novel therapeutics and drug delivery technologies for treatment primarily of diabetes, metabolic disease and cancer, whose lead product Afrezza which, according to early patient testimonials, is enabling diabetics to finally go to sleep at night without the fear of possibly never waking up."
And I can personally attest to the fact that my daughter, who suffered from lows so unpredictable, as well as unpredictable highs overnight, requiring us to take her blood sugar every three or four hours through the night and send her off to college with the bed time target of 150 or 170 if exercising, has lowered her bedtime target to 120 to 130 and wakes up in range. No lows! Yes, you can overdose and go low on Afrezza, of course, but only if you strongly miscalculate a dose. Most lows are in the 60s and 70s and very easy to watch for since you test your blood sugar one hour after eating (at which point you would give another 4 unit dose if high because some food is still digesting, or eat a couple of grams if low… only very very rarely is she low. For my daughter, Afrezza is a miracle!

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