Tekturna Reduces Kidney Disease Indicator

The blood pressure medicine Tekturna (aliskiren) may have a beneficial side effect for people with type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure who are at risk of kidney disease. According to a recent article in The New England Journal of Medicine, the drug reduces proteinuria, a key indicator of kidney disease, by 20 percent in patients with type 2 diabetes.

The reduction depends, however, on administering Tekturna along with a maximum dose of the kidney disease treatment drug losartan. (Read the NEJM abstract.)

Metabolic Syndrome Has Genetic Markers

Researchers say that people who have five common gene variations run a greater risk of developing metabolic syndrome, the cluster of symptoms whose sufferers are far more likely to develop heart disease and diabetes than people without it.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found the variations on the CD36 gene, located in a part of chromosome 7 that has previously been associated with metabolic syndrome in other studies.

The DNA they studied came from more than 2,000 African-Americans, a group in which those genetic variations are more common. Researchers expect that their findings will apply to other populations. This press release has more information.

Insulin Delivery Company Says Analogs Are Over-Rated

Keep an eye out for a resurgence in the debate over the efficacy of insulin analogs, thanks to research presented at the Endocrine Society’s recent annual meeting in San Francisco.

Researchers from the Institute for Endocrinology IEMYR in Quito, Ecuador, and the University of Florida at Gainesville studied 26 type 1 patients over a one-year period to compare the performance of analog and non-analog insulins.

They found that the combination of a long-acting, non-analog basal insulin taken twice daily and “Oral-lyn,” a liquid formulation of human insulin, works better at lowering A1c’s, fructosamine levels and pre-meal blood glucose levels than a once-a-day basal dose of the insulin analog glargine and a faster-acting analog before meals.

The study was sponsored by Generex Biotechnology, an insulin delivery manufacturer and the maker of Oral-lyn. Oral-lyn is currently undergoing testing in the United States for FDA approval. This press release has more details.