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Diabetes Medications Article Archives
March 2013
Twelve years after it began as a summer placeholder designed to keep Fox TV viewers hanging around until the fall season, "American Idol" has become one of this young century's most renowned cultural phenomena. From the show's modest beginning, record producer and musician Randy Jackson has been at its heart, the memorable judge who has popularized such greetings as "Dawg!" and such praises as "I believe she's in it to win it!"
0 comments - Posted Mar 19, 2013
September 2012
The Mayo Clinic Health Letter for August 2012 has published three lifestyle changes that could stave off the progression of prediabetes to full-blown type 2 diabetes. The list isn't new, but its periodic reiteration indicates that healthcare researchers and providers have settled on a simple prescription for staying diabetes-free.
0 comments - Posted Sep 4, 2012
August 2012
As diabetes climbs to epidemic levels in the United States, and finding adequate resources to fund future U.S. healthcare remains in question, the need for an already existing "boots on the ground" group that can address the disease is greater than ever.
0 comments - Posted Aug 15, 2012
July 2012
Editor's Note: Portions of this report were taken from a press release from CVS-Caremark.
0 comments - Posted Jul 26, 2012
June 2012
A Florida-based endocrinologist and his team have reported that an intensive 16-week wellness program aimed at type 2 patients yielded some dramatic results: Patients were able to decrease their insulin by 46 percent and their oral medication by 12 percent. They saw their 30-day prescription costs drop by an average of more than $140 per month, reduced their BMI by 3.07, and experienced a drop of 0.7% in their A1C.
0 comments - Posted Jun 14, 2012
May 2012
Recently, I was cuddling my sleeping toddler and watching a recorded episode of The View. If you've never seen the show, five well-known women discuss "hot topics" and interview guests. On the day I watched, their guest co-host was Paula Deen, the Southern chef who is best known for adding endless sticks of butter to her recipes.
0 comments - Posted May 23, 2012
Burnout is common among people with diabetes, especially those who have had the disease for years, even decades. Diabetes management can be exhausting, confusing, and frustrating, particularly when you think you are doing everything right but your blood sugars still fail to cooperate.
0 comments - Posted May 17, 2012
Novo Nordisk's new variety of long-lasting insulin, insulin degludec, reduces low blood sugars while improving overall control, according to a pair of studies published in the prestigious journal The Lancet on April 27.
0 comments - Posted May 8, 2012
Diabetes Health recently submitted some questions to CVS Caremark Corporation regarding its "The State of the States: Adherence Report." The report compiled data from more than 50 million patients to track their level of adherence to drug prescriptions for four chronic diseases: diabetes, depression, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.
0 comments - Posted May 4, 2012
April 2012
To love a diabetic is to be a doctor. It means helping her to remember her medications. It means driving her for an hour to the only 24 hour pharmacy when she's gotten the flu and can't take the Nyquil in the refrigerator. Or driving her to the hospital when the simple flu turns into bronchitis and her blood turns acidic.
0 comments - Posted Apr 12, 2012
March 2012
Do you struggle with controlling your sugar levels during exercise? When my doctor changed my exercise regimen after my heart attack, my biggest struggle was keeping my sugar levels stable. We all like to see low numbers, but no one likes the shaking associated with low blood sugar or that feeling we have for the rest of the day after our levels have fluctuated. So how low is too low before working out?
0 comments - Posted Mar 22, 2012
September 2011
Combination therapy, in which doctors prescribe more than one drug to treat type 2 diabetes, is a fairly common practice. However, most newly diagnosed type 2 patients start off with metformin or a sulfonylurea and don't go on a two-drug therapy until their first drug begins to lose its effectiveness. But combination therapy could soon become an earlier option for people with type 2.
0 comments - Posted Sep 7, 2011
When people are diagnosed with diabetes, things can seem pretty overwhelming. In a short time, they have to absorb a daunting amount of information and start making significant decisions about the way they live their lives.
0 comments - Posted Sep 3, 2011
August 2011
My name is Katherine Marple, and I've had type 1 diabetes for 13 years. I'm the first in my family to have the disease, so I've done most of the research and made most of the discoveries on my own. One of those discoveries was the power of metformin (in addition to insulin) to help me control my diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Aug 18, 2011
July 2011
Patients who have partial lipodystrophy, a condition that often leads to diabetes and high triglycerides, are benefiting from metreleptin, an investigational treatment being developed by Amylin Pharmaceuticals.
0 comments - Posted Jul 24, 2011
With severe weather predicted for Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Meredith Cummings thought carefully about where to park her car-eyeing the large trees in her historic neighborhood-when she arrived home on the afternoon of April 27. As she walked to her door, she reassured herself: Those trees had been there for more than 100 years. What were the odds of them coming down today?
0 comments - Posted Jul 22, 2011
The Internet allows consumers to shop for deals on anything imaginable, even prescription drugs. The economic struggles that many currently face, paired with the increasing cost of healthcare and prescription drugs, have created an environment in which counterfeit drug makers can prosper.
0 comments - Posted Jul 7, 2011
If you have diabetes, you're more likely to be depressed than people without the disease.
0 comments - Posted Jul 5, 2011
June 2011
The main question that doctors---and patients---ask about a prescription drug is simple: Does it work? Does this medicine improve the condition it's prescribed for?
0 comments - Posted Jun 25, 2011
May 2011
"Nutrient Depletions" is a new smart phone app that allows users to see which of their prescription medications may be draining nutrients from their body. The app, available at iTunes stores for $1.99, works on Apple's iPhone, iTouch, and iPad products.
0 comments - Posted May 31, 2011
March 2011
Hispanics are almost twice as likely as non-Hispanic whites to have type 2 diabetes, and more than a third of working adult Hispanics do not have health insurance. For this audience, Jane Delgado, PhD, has written The Buena Salud Guide to Diabetes and Your Life. Available in both Spanish and English, it's a culturally sensitive and reassuring book that dispels myths and presents detailed science while gently guiding readers toward the right path in caring for their diabetes. The tone is conversational, as Dr. Delgado speaks to her readers like a family member who knows them well and has their best interests at heart.
0 comments - Posted Mar 2, 2011
Scandal swirling around a former diabetes drug has upended medical regulation in France, with the country's health minister promising tough new reforms.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2011
February 2011
Ellen Granberg is an obesity sociologist who studies the processes that people go through when they lose weight and keep it off. As she says, "If the problem were that we don't know what people should eat to lose weight, that would be one thing, but we don't have that problem. There are a hundred weight loss plans out there that are perfectly good. We understand all about the physiology of weight loss maintenance and the metabolic impacts, but nothing about the social and emotional impacts. People who sustain weight loss over time move through a lot of different challenges."
0 comments - Posted Feb 27, 2011
New University of Georgia research has found that a statin drug that is often known by the brand-name Lipitor may help prevent blindness in people with diabetes. In a study using diabetic rats, lead author Azza El-Remessy, assistant professor in the University of Georgia College of Pharmacy, and her colleagues found that statins prevent free radicals in the retina from killing nerves important to maintaining vision. The results of the study are published in the March edition of the journal Diabetologia.
0 comments - Posted Feb 23, 2011
Ross Valley Pharmacy, tucked away inside a larger building of clinics, is not a big place, but it's very very busy. Its owner, Paul Lofholm, PharmD, has a vision of the pharmacist's role that goes far beyond simply putting pills in bottles. He sees pharmacists as integral members of the healthcare team who can fill the gaps in patients' education about their conditions and their medications.
0 comments - Posted Feb 21, 2011
Ross Valley Pharmacy, tucked away inside a larger building of clinics, is not a big place, but it's very very busy. Its owner, pharmacist Paul Lofholm, has a vision of the pharmacist's role that goes far beyond simply putting pills in bottles. He sees pharmacists as integral members of the healthcare team who can fill the gaps in patients' education about their conditions and their medications.
0 comments - Posted Feb 20, 2011
Nearly one in six people in the United States has no health insurance. If you have diabetes, that's a very tough position to be in. There are, however, resources that can cut the costs that you have been paying out of pocket for medicines and supplies.
0 comments - Posted Feb 14, 2011
January 2011
Insulin has a companion, and it's called amylin. Amylin is a small hormone that is released along with insulin by the beta cells of the pancreas in response to a meal. When people are insulin-deficient, they are amylin-deficient as well. Amylin wasn't even discovered until 1970, and it was not until the 1990s that scientists began to figure out what amylin does. But they now know that it partners with insulin to help control blood sugar levels, each in its own way:
0 comments - Posted Jan 28, 2011
The kuriously named Kombiglyze XR, a combination of Onglyza (saxagliptin) and the old reliable metformin, has arrived at pharmacies and is available by prescription to people with type 2 diabetes. It's similar to Janumet, an older medication that's a combination of Januvia (sitagliptin) and metformin.
0 comments - Posted Jan 25, 2011
Most type 2 meds work by increasing insulin production in one way or another. The extra insulin lowers blood sugar by ushering it out of your bloodstream and into your cells, where it may, unfortunately, make you fat. Wouldn't it be nice if instead, you could lower your high blood sugar by just flushing it right down the toilet?
0 comments - Posted Jan 17, 2011
Sitagliptin (Januvia) has long been used to reduce blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes, but a new study indicates that it can do the same for those with type 1 diabetes. Sitagliptin is a DPP-4 inhibitor; that is, it inhibits, or temporarily prevents, the enzyme DPP-4 from destroying a helpful hormone called GLP-1. GLP-1, which is released by the gut when food arrives there from the stomach, lowers blood sugar by causing the release of insulin, reducing the secretion of glucagon, and slowing stomach emptying and nutrient absorption.
0 comments - Posted Jan 7, 2011
December 2010
The Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University in New York City has received a $600,000 grant from the American Diabetes Association to study the effects of resveratrol on lowering impaired glucose tolerance in older adults.
0 comments - Posted Dec 30, 2010
Arena Pharmaceuticals and Eisai Inc. recently released results of a phase 3 clinical trial for lorcaserin, a weight-loss drug they are developing in partnership. The trial, called BLOOM-DM (Behavioral modification and Lorcaserin for Overweight and Obesity Management- Diabetes Management), targeted patients with type 2 diabetes who are overweight or obese.
0 comments - Posted Dec 28, 2010
A new study finds that combining the newer diabetes drug exenatide with insulin provides better blood sugar control in patients with type 2 diabetes than insulin alone and helps promote weight loss.
0 comments - Posted Dec 27, 2010
November 2010
Too often our preconceptions of work-limiting disabilities are confined to suddenly devastating conditions, such as spinal cord injury or stroke. We rarely consider how diseases such as diabetes can be just as debilitating and just as costly to a family. With November being recognized as National Diabetes Awareness Month, we should remember the people who are unable to work due to the complications of diabetes and who need the benefits to which they are entitled under Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI).
0 comments - Posted Nov 30, 2010
The newest threat to patient health may not be the flu or other epidemics. It could be a major shortage of prescription drugs. The shortage has reached the level of a "national public health crisis," according to a survey conducted by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) this summer. Survey respondents said shortages in the past year were "the worst ever, without a glimmer of hope for any improvement in the near future."
0 comments - Posted Nov 27, 2010
A new drug for type 2 diabetes started showing up in drugstores this week, according to manufacturer Santarus. The FDA-approved drug, called Cycloset, takes an distinctive -- and not well understood -- approach to reducing blood sugar levels. The pill apparently works by increasing dopamine activity in the hypothalamus, a part of the brain. Dopamine is a brain chemical that plays a big role in people's behavior, mood, and ability to sleep. Scientists theorize that glucose intolerance and insulin resistance may in part result from abnormal activity of this chemical, and that upping dopamine activity may iron out these problems.That's the theory, at least: the drug's exact workings aren't known. But it seems to do the trick.
0 comments - Posted Nov 24, 2010
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is encouraging all Medicare beneficiaries to take advantage of the annual Open Enrollment period to make sure they have the best coverage available to meet their health care needs in 2011.
0 comments - Posted Nov 16, 2010
September 2010
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced that it will significantly restrict the use of the diabetes drug Avandia (rosiglitazone) to patients with Type 2 diabetes who cannot control their diabetes on other medications. These new restrictions are in response to data that suggest an elevated risk of cardiovascular events, such as heart attack and stroke, in patients treated with Avandia.
0 comments - Posted Sep 23, 2010
Dear Diabetes Health, I am 62 years old. I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 1997, and I am doing OK on metformin. My last A1c was 7.2 %. About a year ago, they put me on medicine for my blood pressure (which was 142/90) and for cholesterol. I started having less interest in sex, which I had really liked before.
0 comments - Posted Sep 7, 2010
August 2010
(Reuters) - Genetic testing might have helped identify people who would become depressed or suicidal while taking Sanofi-Aventis' weight loss drug Acomplia, which might have helped keep the drug on the market, U.S. researchers said on Thursday.
0 comments - Posted Aug 19, 2010
And wouldn't it be great if that pill weren't something advertised on late-night TV, but rather a legitimate treatment? A drug called rimonabant, introduced in Europe, seemed to fit the bill at first, but it was pulled from the market in late 2008 due to concerns about psychiatric side effects.
0 comments - Posted Aug 10, 2010
July 2010
On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law (P.L. 111-148). The health care reform law, which incorporates changes made by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, makes several important changes to the Medicare Part D drug benefit to reduce Part D enrollees' out-of-pocket liability when they reach the coverage gap, known as the "doughnut hole."
0 comments - Posted Jul 29, 2010
A long-term study on the safety of a popular diabetes drug was put on hold Wednesday by the Food and Drug Administration, while the FDA considers whether it's too dangerous to continue. Several large studies have linked the drug, Avandia, to a higher risk of heart attacks and other heart problems. While other studies have not found the same risk, last week an FDA advisory panel recommended that the drug not be sold without a stronger warning label or possibly limits on who could receive it.
0 comments - Posted Jul 23, 2010
(Reuters) - The first new prescription weight-loss pill in more than a decade failed to win backing from U.S.health advisers, who said safety concerns about the drug outweighed its ability to help obese patients shed pounds.
0 comments - Posted Jul 19, 2010
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Joint Meeting of the Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee and Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee has completed their evaluation of the scientific research available on the safety of rosiglitazone. The deliberations of the panel reflected the complexity of the issues, with several members voting to add additional warnings or to withdraw the drug from the U.S. market. Ultimately, the final recommendation was to allow Avandia to remain on the market. Now that the expert panel has concluded its meeting, the FDA will review their recommendations and make the final decision on whether the drug remains available to patients.
0 comments - Posted Jul 15, 2010
A study released in late June has brought some welcome news to the makers of Byetta and Januvia: Users of the two diabetes drugs run no greater risk of developing pancreatitis than people with diabetes who take other drugs. In fact, both drugs seem to put users at slightly less risk for the condition.
0 comments - Posted Jul 8, 2010
AFREZZA TM (insulin human [rDNA origin]) Inhalation Powder, a well-tolerated, investigational ultra rapid acting mealtime insulin, as part of a diabetes treatment regimen, provides long-term glucose control comparable to usual insulin therapy but with a significantly reduced incidence of hypoglycemia and less weight gain in patients with Type 2 diabetes, according to a two-year study presented at the American Diabetes Association's 70th Scientific Sessions.
0 comments - Posted Jul 6, 2010
Depomed, Inc. and Santarus, Inc. announced new data suggesting that patients previously intolerant of metformin may be able to tolerate higher doses of metformin when treated with GLUMETZA® (metformin HCl extended release tablets). The finding will be presented at the 70th Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association (ADA) in Orlando. GLUMETZA is a once-daily, extended release formulation of metformin, and is approved for use in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus. It is promoted in the U.S. by Santarus.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2010
June 2010
(Reuters) - Drug developer Depomed Inc (DEPO.O) said it will recall 52 lots of its diabetes drug Glumetza due to the presence of traces of a certain chemical in the tablet's 500 mg bottle.
0 comments - Posted Jun 22, 2010
A Canadian study that tracked 207 patients suggests that a low-dose combination of metformin and Avandia can reduce the development of type 2 diabetes by 66 percent in people at high risk for the condition.
0 comments - Posted Jun 15, 2010
New guidelines from the American Diabetes Association and two other major medical associations advise not prescribing low-dose aspirin therapy for women under 60 or men under 50 who have diabetes but no other risks for heart disease.
0 comments - Posted Jun 12, 2010
Results from a Phase 3 study demonstrate MACUGEN® (pegaptanib sodium) significantly improved vision in patients with diabetic macular edema (DME), a complication of diabetes that is a leading cause of blindness in people of working age.¹ In the study, 37 percent of patients treated with MACUGEN gained two lines, or 10 letters, of vision on the ETDRS eye chart at 54 weeks, compared to 20 percent of patients who received a sham (placebo-like) procedure which consists of anesthesia and a simulated injection in the eye (p=0.0047). The data were presented at the World Ophthalmology Congress in Berlin by Frank G. Holz, an investigator in the trial and director of the University Eye Hospital at the University of Bonn in Germany.
0 comments - Posted Jun 7, 2010
If you take metformin to control your type 2 diabetes, ask your doctor to take a look at your vitamin B-12 levels when you get a chance. A recent British study shows that metformin may cause a deficiency in the vitamin, which is necessary for the regeneration of red blood cells and the maintenance of nervous system health.
0 comments - Posted Jun 5, 2010
May 2010
A Seattle-based study has found that people with diabetes run a 40 percent increased risk of developing a common type of abnormal heart rhythm known as atrial fibrillation*. The study also shows that as people with diabetes take drugs for the disease, their risk for developing atrial fibrillation increases three percent for each year that they use such medications.
0 comments - Posted May 25, 2010
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has launched a "Bad Ad Program," an outreach effort aimed at educating healthcare providers and urging them to report misleading drug advertisements. The Division of Drug Marketing, Advertising, and Communications (DDMAC), in the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, administers the program.
0 comments - Posted May 13, 2010
Scientists at the Mayo Clinic have developed a molecule that can block the breakdown of insulin. Their discovery could lead to development of a new class of drugs to help treat diabetes.
0 comments - Posted May 10, 2010
CINCINNATI - The popular diabetes medication metformin works in different fashion than the current widely accepted view. This new finding could lead to wider use of the drug-particularly in people with cancer.
0 comments - Posted May 4, 2010
March 2010
Dear Diabetes Health, I am a 55-year-old man who was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes two years ago, and I think it made me depressed. The depression eventually got so bad that I didn't want to get out of bed in the morning. My doctor referred me to the psych clinic, where they put me on Paxil (paroxetine). The medication is helping my depression, but ruining my sex life. Basically, I can't get an erection, but I don't really care because I'm not interested anyway. I have no desire. My wife is still interested, however, and she is really upset about my lack of desire for sex. I don't like hurting her, and I don't want us to break up over this, but the depression was awful. I don't want to go back to that. What can I do?
0 comments - Posted Mar 16, 2010
Santa Clara County, the largest county in Northern California (nearly 1.9 million people), has filed a federal lawsuit against pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, alleging that Glaxo knowingly sold its type 2 diabetes drug Avandia for several years despite indications the drug causes heart attacks and strokes.
0 comments - Posted Mar 8, 2010
If you regularly take metformin, one of the oldest and most respected tools in doctors' anti-diabetes kits, chances are that you don't detect the unpleasant odor that turns some type 2s against the drug. Some think it has fishy smell, while others say that it reminds them of the inside of an inner tube.
0 comments - Posted Mar 4, 2010
February 2010
The Staff Report of the Senate Committee on Finance draws conclusions on the safety of Avandia (rosiglitazone) that are based on analyses that are not consistent with the rigorous scientific evidence supporting the safety of the drug. In addition, the report cherry-picks information from documents, which mischaracterizes GlaxoSmithKline's comprehensive efforts to research Avandia and communicate those findings to regulators, physicians and patients. In fact, the safety and effectiveness of Avandia is well characterized in the label approved by the FDA.
0 comments - Posted Feb 23, 2010
A U.S. Senate Finance Committee report released on February 20 says that Avandia, GlaxoSmithKline's drug for type 2 diabetes, may have caused as many as 83,000 heart attacks between 1999, when the drug was introduced, and 2007. The Senate report, culminating a two-year inquiry into the drug, also says that Glaxo knew about the drug's potential risks years before suspicions began to form regarding a connection between Avandia and heart problems.
0 comments - Posted Feb 22, 2010
January 2010
Novo Nordisk announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the new drug application for Victoza (liraglutide injection), the first once-daily human glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analog for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. Victoza is indicated as an adjunct to diet and exercise to improve blood sugar control in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus.
0 comments - Posted Jan 28, 2010
German and Swiss researchers have found that high-density lipoprotein, or HDL-so-called "good" cholesterol-does not protect blood vessels in people with type 2 diabetes as well as it does in people who don't have the disease. However, their follow-up experiment, which added doses of extended-release niacin, shows that HDL's efficacy in type 2s might be sharply increased simply by the addition of a daily niacin pill.
0 comments - Posted Jan 9, 2010
December 2009
BOSTON/NEW YORK, Dec 23 (Reuters) - The shares of Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc (AMLN.O) fell nearly 10 percent on Wednesday after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration requested that the company conduct additional safety studies on its diabetes drug, Byetta.
0 comments - Posted Dec 28, 2009
Denmark-based Novo Nordisk A/S has begun phase 1 testing of an insulin pill that, if successful, could replace injections as the primary means of blood sugar control for millions of people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. The company has enrolled 80 volunteer German test subjects in the study and expects to have preliminary results by the first half of 2011. The test group consists of both people with diabetes and people without it.
0 comments - Posted Dec 24, 2009
WORCESTER, Mass., Dec 3, 2009 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX News Network) -- Published in the journal Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism, an independent review of clinical trials of Generex Oral-lyn(TM) shows that the oral insulin spray has a faster onset of action and shorter duration of action than insulin delivered subcutaneously.
0 comments - Posted Dec 9, 2009
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (Dec. 1, 2009) - Seniors may find that many common prescription drugs that Medicare Part D has covered for years may suddenly be denied due to a new policy being implemented by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
0 comments - Posted Dec 3, 2009
November 2009
If you bought Vytorin® and/or Zetia® to lower your cholesterol between November 1, 2002, and September 17, 2009, you may be entitled to some money. A lawsuit against Merck & Co., Inc., Schering-Plough Corporation, Merck/Schering-Plough Pharmaceuticals, and other defendants has reached a proposed settlement in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. The lawsuit, according to vytorinzetiasettlement.com (the authorized website for the settlement), claims that Vytorin and Zetia "were marketed as being more effective than other anti-cholesterol drugs and were sold at higher prices, when they were no more effective than less expensive anti-cholesterol drugs". The defendants, according to the website, "deny any wrongdoing and are settling this lawsuit to avoid the costs and expenses of further litigation."
0 comments - Posted Nov 5, 2009
October 2009
A study coming out in the November issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology is reporting that type 2 men whose blood contained a high count of eosinophils, a sign of allergic inflammation, also had albumin in their urine, which is an early indication of kidney disease. Eosinophils are white blood cells that increase in number during an allergic reaction. Albumin is a protein in the blood that helps regulate blood volume and acts as a carrier for other molecules. Albumin is not normally found in the urine, however, because when healthy kidneys filter the blood, they retain what the body needs (like proteins) and allow only smaller "impurities" into the urine. But during diabetes, too much blood sugar can damage the filtering structures of the kidneys, causing them to thicken and become scarred. Eventually, they begin to leak, and protein (albumin) begins to pass into the urine.
0 comments - Posted Oct 6, 2009
The enthusiasm for inhaled insulin has waned, to say the least, since Exubera was pulled off the market by Pfizer. Following the Exubera debacle, the development of two other inhaled insulins (AIR by Eli Lilly and Alkermes, and AERx by Novo Nordisk) was halted as well.
0 comments - Posted Oct 5, 2009
September 2009
Clinical trials are conducted before a new drug is released for sale, in part to test for bad things that might happen when people take it. But clinical trials don't involve all that many people: several thousand at the most. After the clinical trials are successfully completed, however, the drug is sold to millions upon millions. Merck's sales of Januvia and Janumet, for example, totaled over a billion dollars in the first six months of this year alone.
0 comments - Posted Sep 30, 2009
August 2009
It's called an anti-Ras drug, but it's got no problem with reggae. It's a multi-talented new pill against pancreatic cancer that just might also come to the rescue of pancreatic beta cells. Its pancreatic cancer-fighting attributes are currently being tested in a human clinical trial, but a modified version has been shown to maintain normal insulin production in diabetic mice.
0 comments - Posted Aug 21, 2009
One of the major complications of diabetes is diabetic nephropathy, a loss of kidney function that may lead to renal failure. As kidney disease progresses, the barrier that keeps large molecules out of the urine, called the glomerular barrier, begins to break down. With the barrier failing, certain large molecules begin to migrate into the urine. One of those hefty molecules is immunoglobulin M, or IgM.
0 comments - Posted Aug 19, 2009
The theory of unintended consequences has gotten another boost. Although two drugs designed to slow the loss of kidney function in people with type 1 diabetes turned out to be busts, they had a wonderful but entirely unexpected side effect: Eye damage was reduced by 65 to 70 percent in the patients taking them.
0 comments - Posted Aug 17, 2009
Onglyza (saxagliptin), a dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitor produced by AstraZeneca and Bristol-Myers Squibb, has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Aug 15, 2009
Most clinical studies of new drugs are conducted primarily on white men, whether or not they are most affected by the disease the drug is intended to treat. African Americans, for example, are 1.6 times more likely to have diabetes than non-Hispanic whites. Why should we assume that what works for white males will also be effective for African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, or, for that matter, women?
0 comments - Posted Aug 6, 2009
Metformin is one of the oldest and most tried-and-true diabetes treatments around, but apparently it has a new talent. According to research from the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas, good ol' metformin reduces a type 2 person's risk of pancreatic cancer by 62 percent.
0 comments - Posted Aug 5, 2009
In April of 2008, our healthy nine-year-old son, Gaspar, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. After his two days in the ICU and a week in the hospital, a new life began for all of us. Although we couldn't immediately grasp all its implications and were simultaneously dealing with our shaken world, we gave the situation a "think outside the box" approach. When the endocrinologist told us, "That's the way it is. Just focus on the controls and all will be fine," we asked whether the condition might be cured or attenuated if we acted quickly at the beginning. We were met with the usual answer: "There's nothing you can do. Just focus on the controls."
0 comments - Posted Aug 3, 2009
July 2009
According to results of a phase II clinical trial at the University of Texas Medical School, a low dose of oral interferon alpha can preserve pancreatic beta cell function in newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes patients. Interferons are proteins produced by the cells of the immune system in response to challenges like a virus or a tumor cell. They work by inhibiting viral replication in the host cell, activating natural killer cells, and increasing the activity of other immune system cells such as lymphocytes.
0 comments - Posted Jul 24, 2009
Of all the quests that researchers have undertaken in search of a cure or decisive treatment for type 1 diabetes, the search for a vaccine has to be the boldest. But how would you develop such a vaccine, and how would it work?
0 comments - Posted Jul 9, 2009
The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) has called for urgent assessment and responses from regulatory authorities into a possible link between the use of insulin glargine (an insulin analog) and increased risk of cancer. The proposed link is based on findings published on June 26, 2009, in Diabetelogia, the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD).
0 comments - Posted Jul 6, 2009
Genentech, a bioscience firm famous for its development of antibodies designed to combat cancer, has entered a $350 million agreement with Bayhill Therapeutics to assist in development of BHT-3021, a drug that treats type 1 diabetes by reducing or stopping immune system attacks on pancreatic beta cells.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2009
June 2009
Patients with type 2 diabetes reduced their risk of having a foot amputated by 36 percent when they took fenofibrate, a drug designed to lower blood fat levels.
0 comments - Posted Jun 12, 2009
CRx-401, an insulin sensitizer intended to assist metformin in type 2 diabetes therapy, has successfully completed a Phase 2 clinical trial in which patients taking it saw their fasting plasma glucose drop by 12 mg/dl after 90 days.
0 comments - Posted Jun 3, 2009
May 2009
In a recent 16-week randomized, open-label pilot study, 169 patients were randomized to receive Welchol (n=57), Januvia (n=56), or Avandia (n=56).1 The results demonstrated that Welchol (colesevelam HCl) significantly improved glycemic control and reduced mean LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) when added to metformin monotherapy in patients with type 2 diabetes. In the study, Januvia® (sitagliptin) and Avandia® (rosiglitazone) also significantly improved glycemic control, but LDL-C increased in patients on both of these treatment regimens.
0 comments - Posted May 29, 2009
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has just approved the marketing of Cycloset, a type 2 diabetes drug that works by affecting a brain chemical that helps govern metabolism. In doing so, it helps reduce the rise in blood sugar levels that typically occurs after meals. Cycloset will be offered as a monotherapy or in conjunction with sulfonylureas, metformin, or other combination type 2 drug therapies.
0 comments - Posted May 12, 2009
April 2009
A new research report by the Pacific Research Institute (PRI) reviews three decades of the Food and Drug Administration's performance and concludes that the agency is over-funded, over-staffed, and denies hundreds of thousands of Americans timely access to new medicines. Leviathan's Drug Problem: The Federal Monopoly of Pharmaceutical Regulation and Its Deadly Cost was authored by John R. Graham, Director of Health Care Studies at PRI.
0 comments - Posted Apr 7, 2009
February 2009
Georgia researchers believe that a powerful enzyme that inhibits or modifies immune system response could be the basis for a vaccine administered to children at high risk for developing type 1 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Feb 25, 2009
January 2009
Hearts in the medical community beat with considerable excitement at the discovery of leptin in 1994. A hormone produced by fat, leptin has a very useful talent: it tells the brain when to stop eating. So hopes were high that leptin would become the basis of an anti-obesity treatment. What could be simpler than to dose an obese person with a hormone that says, "You're not hungry any more, and you want to stop eating."
0 comments - Posted Jan 22, 2009
December 2008
A study of the effectiveness of the drug terbutaline on controlling nighttime hypoglycemia in people with type 1 diabetes indicates that it may be a safe and useful treatment with no ill effects.
0 comments - Posted Dec 29, 2008
The Chinese mentioned cinnamon in their written work more than 4,000 years ago. The ancient Egyptians used cinnamon in their embalming process, and the Roman writer/philosopher Pliny the Elder wrote in the first century AD that cinnamon was worth 15 times more than silver of the same weight.
0 comments - Posted Dec 25, 2008
Avandia (rosiglitazone) and Actos (pioglitazone), two medications used to lower blood sugar in type 2 patients, double the risk of fractures in women, but not in men, says a new study.
0 comments - Posted Dec 22, 2008
November 2008
According to a study sponsored by Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, it cost $218 billion to treat type 1 and 2 diabetes in the United States in 2007. Of that amount, the federal government spent approximately $85 billion.
0 comments - Posted Nov 24, 2008
As a child, I had an obsessive, irrational fear of going blind. At night, I lay in bed and kept opening my eyes every few minutes as I fell asleep to make sure I could still see, searching for outside lights filtering through the curtains of my bedroom window.
0 comments - Posted Nov 17, 2008
When I was growing up in the South, my mother always told me, "You are what you eat." With Americans leading the pack in obesity and type 2 diabetes, it appears that she may have been right. Years of drive-through dinners and instant breakfasts have caught up with us, making us rethink every bite that passes our lips in our quest to fight off the complications of diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Nov 3, 2008
October 2008
Pentoxifylline, a drug used to treat patients with circulation problems, may also benefit those with kidney disease caused by diabetes and other conditions. Specifically, pentoxifylline decreases proteinuria, the abnormal leakage of protein into the urine, according to two articles in the September issue of the American Journal of Kidney Diseases, the official journal of the National Kidney Foundation.
0 comments - Posted Oct 27, 2008
Novo Nordisk recently announced results from its LEAD 6 study showing that once daily liraglutide was significantly more effective at improving blood glucose control (as measured by A1c) than exenatide, a GLP-1 mimetic administered twice daily.
0 comments - Posted Oct 27, 2008
An aspirin-like drug discovered 132 years ago may prove to be a powerful weapon against type 2 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Oct 13, 2008
July 2008
The Food and Drug Administration is considering a requirement that before receiving agency approval, new diabetes treatment drugs must not only lower blood sugar levels, but also demonstrate a positive effect on heart disease and lifespan.
0 comments - Posted Jul 3, 2008
June 2008
Drug manufacturer Novo Nordisk has applied to the U.S. Federal Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency for approval of liraglutide, a human GLP-1 analog* that is taken once daily for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Jun 19, 2008
Canadian researchers report that succinobucol, an anti-oxidant drug used to treat cardiovascular inflammation, appears to have a beneficial effect in lowering the risk of developing diabetes. Even patients who already have diabetes, they say, achieve better blood sugar control while on the drug.
0 comments - Posted Jun 19, 2008
”Intense Hydrating Cream” from Pedi-Relax®, a cream made in France and used by people with diabetes in Europe to treat their soles, is now available in the United States at www.cvs.com for $7.99. The line is specifically formulated for extremely dry and damaged feet and is endorsed by the Federation of International Podiatrists.
0 comments - Posted Jun 12, 2008
Dear friends of Diabetes Health,
We value your hard-earned diabetes wisdom and we want you to share it with the world! Please join us as a professional or lay diabetes advisor in one of our Diabetes Health website content Rooms.
0 comments - Posted Jun 6, 2008
May 2008
HealthDay reports that according to a University of Miami study, people with type 1 diabetes who received transplanted islet cells from human donors lived insulin-free for up to two years.
0 comments - Posted May 30, 2008
April 2008
Does anyone living in our well-nourished country, eating a reasonable diet, really need to take vitamins, minerals, or herbs? Should a person with diabetes take them? If so, which ones and how much? When it comes to supplements, the answers are often unclear.
0 comments - Posted Apr 23, 2008
February 2008
A Wayne State University Health Clinic study has shown that a single pill containing both a blood pressure-lowering drug and a cholesterol-lowering drug may be of particular benefit for African Americans.
0 comments - Posted Feb 20, 2008
November 2007
Over the course of the year, we meticulously update all our charts to bring you the most accurate information about hundreds of products, services, and medications. Now we've gathered every one of those charts, from humble lancets to sophisticated continuous glucose monitors, into one handy place.
0 comments - Posted Nov 26, 2007
Most diabetes drug trials focus strictly on the medication's effect on blood sugar levels, but ignore that medication's impact on other outcomes that are important to patients, such as quality of life and the risk of complications.
0 comments - Posted Nov 22, 2007
Januvia, also known as sitagliptin phosphate, is a DPP-IV inhibitor. It prevents, or inhibits, DPP-IV from inactivating GLP-1. GLP-1 is a naturally produced hormone that increases insulin secretion in response to food.
0 comments - Posted Nov 20, 2007
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) just approved pre-filled pens for administering Symlin, which was previously available only in vials. The SymlinPen 60 delivers 15, 30, 45, or 60 micrograms per dose.
0 comments - Posted Nov 14, 2007
A recent study has found that the combination of metformin and sitagliptin lowers A1c's better than either drug alone, apparently because their different mechanisms work together synergistically.
0 comments - Posted Nov 12, 2007
The FDA has received thirty reports of acute pancreatitis (rapid-onset inflammation of the pancreas) in type 2 patients taking Byetta. Twenty-seven of the thirty patients had one or more risk factors for acute pancreatitis, such as gallstones or alcohol use.
0 comments - Posted Nov 5, 2007
August 2007
Americans spend 275 billion dollars on prescription medicines every single year, sixty percent of it on generics. But in the next five years, the twenty-year patents are going to expire on enough brand-name medicines to account for about 60 billion dollars of that total. And the generics that spring up to replace those drugs will be thirty to eighty percent cheaper.
0 comments - Posted Aug 26, 2007
Both Bristol-Myers Squibb and GlaxoSmithKline are developing new drugs that block the re-absorption of excess glucose by the kidneys, allowing it to be excreted by the body instead.
0 comments - Posted Aug 4, 2007
July 2007
A team of five seniors and two freshmen at Johns Hopkins University has devised a little "pouch" to hold microcapsules of beta cells in the portal vein, from which the cells can send out insulin while safely protected inside. It's made by sandwiching a porous cylinder of nylon mesh between two cylindrical metal stents, similar to the ones that are used to keep clogged blood vessels open.
0 comments - Posted Jul 23, 2007
On one hand, GlaxoSmithKline really, really wants you to take their new over-the-counter diet pill, alli. On the other hand, they don't want you to abandon healthy habits in favor of pill popping.
0 comments - Posted Jul 15, 2007
June 2007
As many of us know to our dismay, the desire to chow down fatty, sugary food can be very strong indeed. In a recent six-week study of 88 obese, non-diabetic men and women, Symlin, a synthetic hormone currently used to dampen diabetic blood sugar swings, was found to dampen those very desires.
0 comments - Posted Jun 27, 2007
A study from the Mayo Clinic has found that using a decision-making tool with patients when discussing medication options makes them more likely to take their prescribed medicine.
0 comments - Posted Jun 26, 2007
Patients with diabetes are less likely to have a heart attack or die if they stay on anti-clotting medication for a full year after a stenting procedure.
0 comments - Posted Jun 11, 2007
Thinner artery walls are a good thing, because thicker ones indicate atherosclerosis and an increased risk of heart attack. In a study published in the December 2006 Journal of the American Medical Association, pioglitazone (Actos, a thiazolidinedione) was compared to glimepiride (a sulfonylurea) with regard to carotid artery thickness.
0 comments - Posted Jun 9, 2007
Medco, a pharmacy benefit managing company, has released its 2007 Drug Trend Report, and diabetes drugs are big news. The report projects that between 2007 and 2009, there could be a near 70 percent increase in spending on endocrine and diabetes drugs.
0 comments - Posted Jun 8, 2007
University of California, San Francisco - In head-to-head trials of two drugs, the one deemed better appears to depend largely on who is funding the study, according to an analysis of nearly 200 statin-drug comparisons carried out between 1999 and 2005.
0 comments - Posted Jun 5, 2007
May 2007
Because of recent changes in airline regulations concerning the transportation of medication, diabetics have more to lose than just their lotion or soda. Now more than ever, it is important to know how to notify security and flight personnel of your medical needs, what documentation to bring, and where to find supplies if yours are damaged.
0 comments - Posted May 21, 2007
Many heart attacks are caused by platelets sticking together and forming clots that block blood flow. Aspirin reduces clotting by inhibiting an enzyme that helps platelets stick together. But if you have diabetes and are taking low-dose aspirin to prevent platelets from gumming up your blood vessels, your low dose might be a little too low.
0 comments - Posted May 16, 2007
A drug initially designed to treat the autoimmune disease of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis has been found helpful in treating type 2 diabetes. The drug is an “interleukin-1-receptor antagonist” that goes by the name of anakinra (Kineret).
0 comments - Posted May 16, 2007
INDIANAPOLIS Data from a pooled analysis of three studies suggest that in patients with pain caused by diabetic nerve damage, or diabetic peripheral neuropathy, who are treated with Cymbalta (duloxetine HCl), improvements in both average daily pain and night pain severity were associated with less pain-related sleep interference than in those patients taking sugar pill.
0 comments - Posted May 15, 2007
April 2007
In a February 2007 report in Diabetes Care, researchers found that women with yeast infections get
better results with boric acid suppositories than with the prescription anti-fungal Diflucan (fluconazole).
0 comments - Posted Apr 16, 2007
Have you lost interest in the world around you? Are you more difficult to engage in conversation or in doing chores? Have you lost interest in doing things or in starting new activities? Are you apathetic or indifferent? If your answer to these questions is yes, then you may be suffering from apathy syndrome.
0 comments - Posted Apr 5, 2007
March 2007
Compared to the volumes of research lavished on the development of useful medicines, there is not much study devoted to whether people actually take that medicine or not. Obviously, the best medicine in the world doesn’t do any good if it’s not taken. And according to evidence presented at American Heart Association 2006 Scientific Sessions, people just aren’t taking their medicine like they should.
0 comments - Posted Mar 15, 2007
February 2007
According to Reuters Health, a study appearing in the October 2006 issue of European Heart Journal found that people with diabetes who have suffered a heart attack or episode of severe angina benefit just as much from treatment with statins as those without diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2007
December 2006
On October 17, 2006, the oral medication Januvia (sitagliptin phosphate) was granted approval by the FDA. Januvia is the first diabetes treatment approved in a new class of drugs known as DDP-4 inhibitors that enhances the body’s own ability to lower elevated blood sugar.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2006
September 2006
July 2006
Novo Nordisk announced that Levemir is now commercially available in the United States.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2006
A long-term study published in a recent issue of the Journal of Palliative Medicine found that Eli Lilly’s non-narcotic prescription drug Cymbalta (duloxetine HCl) is as safe and well-tolerated as current routine care that uses one or more medications for the management of pain caused by diabetic nerve damage. Study findings also show that Cymbalta did not adversely affect the progression of diabetes or many of the complications associated with the illness, such as damage to the nerves, kidneys and eyes.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2006
On April 20, 2006, Eli Lilly & Co. told Diabetes Health that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted priority review status for Arxxant, its potential “first-in-class treatment” for diabetic retinopathy.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2006
May 2006
By October of this year, Merck & Co., Inc., expects the FDA to rule on its novel type 2 drug Januvia (sitagliptin phosphate). On February 15, 2006, the FDA accepted Merck’s New Drug Application (NDA) for Januvia for standard review.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2006
April 2006
New Zealand researchers say that in clinical trials of people with type 2 diabetes, Actos as stand-alone therapy or in combination with metformin, repaglinide, insulin or a sulphonylurea induced “both long- and short-term improvements in [blood glucose] control and serum lipid profiles.”
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
December 2005
Glumetza, a once-daily extended-release formulation of metformin hydrochloride, was granted FDA approval in June 2005 for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2005
Japanese researchers say that adolescents and young adults who have poor blood glucose control can add one more weapon to their control arsenal: a type 2 drug.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2005
November 2005
While treatment options for severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia have improved greatly over the past few decades, there is increasing concern among clinicians and researchers that a certain class of antipsychotic medication may have disturbing side effects.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 2005
In August 2005, Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America, Inc., announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had approved ACTOplus Met for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 2005
Heart disease and stroke are leading causes of death in people with diabetes. As important as it is to keep blood glucose in line, maintaining a healthy lipid profile is also tantamount to healthy longevity.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 2005
January 2005
The risk of cardiovascular disease is greatly increased in people with diabetes. To address the problem of diabetes complications, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) has developed “The ABCs of Diabetes.”
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2005
Exenatide (synthetic exendin-4) significantly reduced A1C in patients with type 2 diabetes who were failing maximum doses of a sulfonylurea, according to researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and the Veterans Medical Center at the University of California San Diego. Exenatide was well tolerated and associated with weight loss.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2005
February 2004
The cholesterol-lowering drug Pravachol (pravastatin), when administered at 40 milligrams per day over six years, helps prevent cardiovascular events including stroke in people with diabetes or with impaired fasting glucose (IFG) and established coronary disease.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2004
February 2003
EMLA, an anesthetic cream made by AstraZeneca of Wilmington, Delaware, has been temporarily removed from the market. The cream is frequently used by insulin pumpers to numb the skin before inserting an infusion set.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2003
September 2002
Forget about an apple a day—as many as 11,000 heart attacks and more than 8,000 lives could be saved each year if 90 percent of people with diabetes took an aspirin a day, according to estimates from a simulation model.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2002
August 2002
Over the past seven years, the number of oral drug therapies for the treatment of type 2 diabetes has dramatically increased. Of the six basic types of medication that can help normalize your blood glucose, five are available as oral drugs.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2002
June 2002
In a small study conducted by researchers in the Netherlands, a drug normally used to treat asthma and bronchitis helped to improve awareness of hypoglycemia in people with type 1 diabetes. Hypoglycemia unawareness can be a dangerous condition—a person with diabetes who cannot detect an episode of low blood glucose cannot take quick action to correct it.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2002
December 2001
Taking Cozaar (losartan potassium) may prevent the progression of kidney disease, say researchers at Harvard. The drug, FDA-approved to treat high blood pressure and hypertension, was shown to lower the risk of kidney disease and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in people with type 2 diabetes. Results of the study were published in the September 20 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2001
November 2001
Researchers in the United Kingdom say that the anti-rejection medication sirolimus (Rapamune) allows for the early withdrawal of the anti-rejection drug cyclosporine in people who have had a kidney transplant.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 2001
September 2001
Australian researchers are saying the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor perindopril (Aceon) is more effective than the calcium channel blocker nifedipine (Procardia) in slowing the progression of kidney disease in people with diabetes who have normal blood pressure.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2001
April 2001
Steven Edelman, MD, of Veterans Hospital in San Diego, California, cautions that some patients should not take ACE inhibitors, including people with:
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2001
September 2000
DepoMed of Menlo Park, California, reported a second set of positive phase I data for its oral anti-diabetic drug Metformin GR. Data from a five-day trial enrolling 14 healthy volunteers suggest that 1000 mg of Metformin GR once per day is as well-tolerated as two doses per day of 500 mg Glucophage.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2000
With nearly 20 percent of type 1s and 2s suffering from some form of depressive disorder, depression is an issue of paramount importance for the diabetes community, and one with far-reaching ramifications. The May issue of Diabetes Care reports that a new class of antidepressant agents has just finished its first round of clinical trials, and the results look good.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2000
February 2000
Merck & Co., Inc., recently announced that people with high cholesterol, heart disease and diabetes cut their risk of a heart attack by as much as 42 percent when taking Zocor, their cholesterol-lowering drug.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2000
January 2000
Researchers at the St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center say the fat-blocking drug Xenical may help prevent the development of type 2 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Jan 7, 2000
A six-year study which appeared in the March 30 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine seeks to shed some light on which antihypertension drugs might induce type 2 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Jan 7, 2000
December 1999
Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey is removing Rezulin from a preferred list of drugs covered under a minority of its health plans. In addition, Aetna U.S. Healthcare says that it also may remove the type 2 diabetes drug from its formulary by the end of the year.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 1999
November 1999
Why do over-the-counter decongestants or antihistamines warn that they are not to be used by people with diabetes?
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 1999
September 1999
Two new drugs have received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. In clinical trials, Avandia (rosiglitazone maleate) and ACTOS (pioglitazone hydrochloride) lowered blood sugars an average of 76 mg/dl and 95 mg/dl respectively, when compared to a placebo.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 1999
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has identified five new cases of liver failure linked to Rezulin.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 1999
July 1999
Kidney transplant patients who suffered high blood sugar when taking the antirejection drug tacrolimus (Prograf) demonstrated improvement when they were switched to the antirejection drug cyclosporin (Neoral).
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 1999
Orlistat, brand name Xenical, a new drug for weight loss, has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The first of a new class of drugs called lipase inhibitors, Xenical does have some side effects that may be difficult to discuss in polite company.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 1999
May 1999
According to an Israeli study, the benefits of taking 100 and 325 mg. of aspirin daily was more beneficial to patients with type 2 diabetes than in those without diabetes. The study revealed that aspirin therapy can cut death rates among people with type 2 diabetes with coronary artery disease (CAD) by one-third.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 1999
February 1999
January 1997 - Rezulin is given FDA clearance.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 1999
Rezulin, a type 2 diabetes drug manufactured by Warner-Lambert, has been receiving its fair share of black eyes recently. Many in the diabetes community, however, are standing by Rezulin as an effective agent in treating type 2 diabetes. Others are making plans to treat their type 2 diabetes through other means.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 1999
December 1998
As early as next year, there could be a new drug on the market that is considered revolutionary in the treatment of diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 1998
August 1998
Keeping a detailed list of medications is extremely important. It can be used as a reference guide by the individual taking the medications, those caring for them and emergency medical personnel. "I recommend all patients carry a complete medication list with the at all times. It should list the medications as well as any natural or herbal products," says Stephen M. Setter, PharmD, an assistant professor of pharmacy practice at Washington State University's Elder Services and Visiting Nurses Association. "I also have them place the list on one of their cupboard doors where emergency medical personnel can readily identify it if the need arises."
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 1998
February 1998
Susan has type 2 diabetes and is under the care of diabetes specialist Nancy Bohannon, MD. Like many other type 2s she is also hypertensive, has high cholesterol and suffered a heart attack. She has arthritis, is postmenopausal and is trying to quit smoking as well. To cover all these conditions she is on a list of pharmaceuticals that might have made even Elvis Presley take a step back.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 1998
December 1997
Since the 1980s, aspirin has been hailed as the superman of over-the-counter drugs for the secondary prevention of heart attacks. Now the ADA is recommending that people with diabetes who are at high risk of cardiovascular problems take aspirin once daily.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 1997
November 1997
Barbara Herrera, a 36-year-old type 2 diabetic, claims fen/phen saved her life. She even went on national television to praise the popular drug combination. Now, the same drugs have given her a damaging heart disease.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 1997
September 1997
The FDA found an experimental drug safe and effective for the treatment of diabetic ulcers that occur on the lower limbs and feet.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 1997
July 1997
Cardiovascular disease kills approximately 3,000 Americans each day. While this figure is alarming, people with diabetes have even more reason to be concerned as they are two to four times more likely to develop cardiovascular disease. But take heart; there is good news.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 1997
February 1997
There is a new medication for people with type 2 diabetes on insulin that could help reduce, and in a few cases possibly eliminate, the need for insulin. The drug appears to resensitize the body to insulin and makes it easier for glucose to be absorbed from the bloodstream.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 1997
Now impotence sufferers have another valuable ally. VIVUS Inc. has received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market its new product MUSE (Alprostadil), a urethral suppository for the treatment of impotence.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 1997
October 1996
A new topical skin cream, Iamin Hydrating Gel, promises to ease the pain associated with chronic wounds by speeding the healing process and promoting a moister environment.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 1996
March 1996
For the majority of Americans who suffer from type 2 diabetes, a new sulfonylurea drug, Amaryl (glimepiride tablets) may be an exciting option. Recently approved by the FDA, is the only drug of its kind indicated for use either on its own or with insulin, although the combined use may increase the potential for hypoglycemia. Amaryl binds to a different insulin receptor site than other sulfonylureas to provide sustained glucose control.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 1996
Currently there are an estimated 16 million people with diabetes in the United States. Perhaps ten percent are insulin-dependent-the rest have type 2 diabetes, which they control with diet, exercise, oral medications, and insulin.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 1996
February 1996
Heart disease is a health concern for everyone, but it should especially concern people with diabetes. Alan Marcus, MD, a diabetes expert on DIABETES HEALTH's medical advisory board, says people with diabetes are at special risk for heart disease and should be careful to control high cholestrol and blood pressure levels with the right drugs.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 1996
January 1996
The November 1995 issue of Diabetes Care reported that women who take oral hypoglycemic drugs have a better chance of delivering a healthy baby than do women with poor glycemic control.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 1996
November 1995
Precose, a new oral drug from Bayer, was recently granted market clearance by the FDA for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 1995
July 1995
Several prominent endocrinologists gathered in San Diego this past January to develop guidelines for prescribing metformin. Speaking at the American Diabetes Association Post-Graduate course were: Alan J. Garber, MD, PhD, of Houston's Baylor College of Medicine; Ralph A. DeFronzo, MD, Chief of the Diabetes Division of the University of Texas Health Center in San Antonio; and Jay S. Skyler, MD of Miami.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 1995
March 1995
Acarbose was found to be effective at reducing blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes in research conducted at the Centre de Recherch/Hotel-Dieu de Montreal in Quebec.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 1995
Though it may be a promising alternative for many people with type 2 diabetes, the drug metformin may cause severe side effects, even death, in some patients.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 1995
August 1994
Your pharmacist and his staff screen a new prescription for errors, then enter the data into the computer. If a problem is noted the pharmacist will contact your physician. The prescription is dispensed to you and a face-to-face counseling session informs you how to take the medicine correctly, what possible side effects or adverse effects to be aware of, and what to do about a missed dose. Some computer programs also print out an information sheet about your prescription.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 1994
May 1994
The largest and longest study ever conducted to learn about the effects of a medication on people with nephropathy recently concluded. It found that a drug called Captopril can slow or halt the progression of nephropathy (kidney disease) in people with diabetes who show signs of this complication. Captopril is an ACE inhibitor, a medication used to treat hypertension.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 1994
February 1993
In a study from the Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, the lipid-regulating drug, gem-fibrozil (Lopid), was found to significantly improve triglyceride (blood fat) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels in a group of type 2 diabetes patients. Lipid disorders are a major cause of atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), a condition which accounts for the majority of diabetes-related deaths. The ability to control stable lipid levels would greatly reduce the risk of developing heart disease.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 1993
November 1992
The Upjohn Company has recently released a new glyburide tablet that is designed to improve absorption and dosing flexibility for people with Type 2 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 1992
Dr. Nancy Bohannon is actively involved in diabetes research and operates a full-time private practice in Internal Medicine, specializing in Diabetes and Endocrinology. Recently Dr. Bohannon spoke to Scott King via telephone from her office in San Francisco about current protocols available for predicting and preventing Type 1 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 1992