Drug offers diabetes breakthrough
Published: September 15, 2006
A drug that makes the body more sensitive to insulin can help prevent type 2 diabetes developing in high-risk patients, new research has shown.
The disease occurs when people cannot produce enough insulin, or do not respond to it properly. Insulin is the essential hormone that helps sugars to be turned into body fuel, the British medical Journal, the lancet, said.
People with an impaired ability to regulate their use of glucose are at high risk of type 2 diabetes.
Researchers said Friday that they found that the drug rosiglitazone, also known by the brand name Avandia, reduced the chances of these patients developing diabetes by two thirds when combined with lifestyle changes.
A trial called Dream, conducted by Canadian scientists, investigated the effect of the drug on 5,269 high-risk adults who were either given rosiglitazone or a dummy placebo.
After three years, 280 individuals taking the drug and 658 on the placebo developed diabetes. A small risk of non-fatal heart failure was also observed in the rosiglitazone group.
The findings were published online today by The Lancet.
The researchers, led by Dr Hertzel Gerstein from the Population Health Research Institute in Hamilton, Ontario, wrote: “The results of this study suggest that the addition of rosiglitazone to basic lifestyle recommendations substantially reduces the risk of developing diabetes by about two thirds, offering a novel preventive approach.”
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