A New Oral Drug for Type 2
In America at the moment there is a race between drug companies to bring out new and effective drugs for T2 diabetics …. breakthroughs promising to be as revolutionary as Exubera [the inhaled insulin] is for T1’s! We are, if nothing else, a major market for the drug makers.
The new agent, vildagliptin, also known by the brand name Galvus, is awaiting regulatory approval in the U.S. and Europe. The new drug class, dipeptidyl peptidase-IV (DPP-IV) inhibitors, improves cell responsiveness to glucose. 
This first of a new class of oral antidiabetic drugs is able to lower blood sugar (glucose) in type 2 diabetes as well as Avandia (rosiglitazone) does, but without causing weight gain, according to a report in the journal Diabetes Care – a very prestigious journal published by the august Stanford University in association with the American Diabetes Association.
Those of you who are regular readers will know that I am a T2 diagnosed well over a dozen years ago but staying healthy thanks to a mix of oral medication that also includes Rosiglitazone [marketed here in Australia as Avandia]. So news of trials in the US on a drug that works the same way is of great interest to me …. and to all you other T2’s out there … today is our day … on Monday I promise all you T1’s a special overview on the state-of-the-art of pumps!
This first of a new class of oral antidiabetic drugs is able to lower blood sugar (glucose) in type 2 diabetes as well as Avandia (rosiglitazone) does, but without causing weight gain, according to a report in the journal Diabetes Care – a very prestigious journal published by the august Stanford University in association with the American Diabetes Association.
I love my Avandia and when in China I was part of it’s expanded trials [prescribed and monitored by a University in Christchurch, NZ] but had to boost exercise and watch diet more closely to prevent that weight gain. For me, it was a matter of really watching my fat intake.
Dr. Julio Rosenstock from the Dallas Diabetes and Endocrine Centre, and colleagues compared the effectiveness and tolerability of vildagliptin versus rosiglitazone (the generic name for Avandia) in nearly 800 patients with previously untreated type 2 diabetes.
At the beginning of the study, the patients’ average haemoglobin A1c level (HbA1c), a measure of long-term glucose control, was 8.7 percent. (Normal HbA1c levels are less than 7 percent). It decreased by 1.1 percent with vildagliptin treatment, with most of the decrease occurring within the first 12 weeks, the investigators report. Patients treated with rosiglitazone had a 1.3 percent decrease in HbA1c, with maximum reduction occurring at week 16.
Patients who were not obese (body mass index below 30) fared better than heavier patients with vildagliptin, the team found.
Vildagliptin treatment was associated with stable body weight during treatment and a significant decrease in the “bad” cholesterol, including triglycerides, LDL, and non-HDL cholesterol, compared with rosiglitazone treatment, the researchers note. Patients taking rosiglitazone experienced a significant average increase in weight of about 3.5 pounds [1.6 kilos].
Vidlagliptin and rosiglitazone are both effective in reducing blood glucose levels in type 2 diabetes patients who have not received prior anti-diabetic drug treatment, the investigators conclude. Along with being well-tolerated, vildagliptin does not cause weight gain, which is an important consideration in selecting the first drug to treat type 2 diabetes patients.
Next week I will be reviewing all the new T2 drugs that are sitting in the pipeline over in the States – the stages of their clinical trials and just how they are meant to work …. wait till you hear about sitagliptin!
Technorati Tags: Diabetes Drugs, Diabetes Research, Diabetes Treatment, Diabetes Treatments, Galvus, Type 2 Diabetes
