New drug shown to help control diabetes

	Tweet

For people with type 2 diabetes whose blood sugar is inadequately controlled when they’re on two oral anti-diabetes medicines, the addition of an injected drug called exenatide is helpful, researchers report.

Dr. Alain D. Baron told that exenatide is the first in a new class of Diabetes drugs and “is now approved for marketing under the name Byetta.”

Byetta has been shown “to improve glucose control in patients with type 2 diabetes who exhibit a wide range of disease severity and (fail) to achieve adequate control on one or two of the most commonly used antidiabetic medications,” he noted.

Baron, of Amylin Pharmaceuticals in San Diego, and colleagues conducted a study involving 733 patients. Two-thirds of the group injected 5 or 10 micrograms of exenatide twice daily, while one-third got placebo injections. All patients continued on their oral medication.

After 30 weeks, blood glucose levels were reduced on both doses of Byetta compared to levels seen in the patients who did not get the drug, the researcher report in the medical journal Diabetes Care.

Mild or moderate nausea was the most common side effect.

The drug “works through a set of unique modes of action, with restoration of first phase insulin secretion as the most characteristic,” Baron explained.

Byetta “thus represents a significant additional therapeutic tool to treat type 2 diabetes, an increasingly prevalent and difficult disease to get under control,” he concluded.

Diabetes Care, May 2005.

RELATED STORIES:
Phone contact with nurses linked with better outcomes for women with gestational diabetes   Death rate drops among Americans with diabetes -CDC   Correct treatment of common diabetic foot infections can reduce amputations   “Pre-diabetes,” diabetes rising among U.S. teens   Experimental bariatric surgery controls blood sugar in rats with diabetes   53 millions Americans might develop diabetes by 2025   New inflammation hormone link may pave way to study new drugs for type 2 diabetes   Diabetic retinopathy research could reduce screening costs   Liver fat gets a wake-up call that maintains blood sugar levels   Low testosterone levels could raise diabetes risk for men   Prosthetic lets diabetic get a foot up on life   Dealing with Diabetes, One Patient at a Time

Comments

[ + Post Your Own ]

Now you're in the public comment zone. What follows is not Armenian Medical Network's stuff; it comes from other people and we don't vouch for it. A reminder: By using this Web site you agree to accept our Terms of Service. Click here to read the Rules of Engagement.

There are no comments for this entry yet. [ + Comment here + ]