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New drug helps control type 2 diabetes
New drug helps control type 2 diabetes -- Posted by Gumbo on 11-16-04 04:59
New drug helps control type 2 diabetes
Oct 29 (Reuters Health) - Long-term use of exenatide, an experimental
diabetes drug derived from lizard saliva, reduces blood glucose levels in
people with type 2 diabetes who don't do well with sulfonylurea-type drugs,
investigators report.
Furthermore, treatment with the new drug leads to sustained weight loss.
Exenatide (also called Exendin-4) is made by Amylin Pharmaceuticals and is
awaiting U.S. FDA approval. It's the first compound in a new class of drugs
called incretin mimetics, which mimic hormones released in the intestinal
tract that help regulate glucose levels.
Dr. John B. Buse from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in
Chapel Hill and colleagues studied 377 adults with type 2 diabetes that
wasn't being controlled sufficiently with sulfonylurea drugs such as
glipizide or chlorpropamide.
The participants were randomly assigned to twice-daily injections of
exenatide at fixed doses of 5 micrograms or 10 micrograms or matching
placebo injections. The subjects self-administered the injections
subcutaneously in the abdomen within 15 minutes before meals in the morning
and evening.
Overall glucose levels declined with both doses of exenatide during the
first 12 weeks of the study, in contrast to relatively little change with
placebo injections, the team reports report in the medical journal Diabetes
Care. Similar results were seen after 30 weeks.
Treatment with exenatide led to dose-related progressive weight loss,
"consistent with the known ability of exenatide to reduce food intake." By
30 weeks, people on 10-microgram exenatide had lost about 1.6 kilograms, or
3-1/2 pounds.
Overall, exenatide was generally well tolerated. There were no severe
episodes of excessively low blood sugar. Nausea, the most common side effect
with exenatide, was "mostly mild or moderate" in intensity, was most notable
at the start of treatment, and lessened with time.
The researchers conclude that fixed-dose subcutaneous exenatide injections
"have potential for the treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes not
adequately controlled with sulfonylurea agents."
SOURCE: Diabetes Care, November 2004.
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