Liraglutide/victoza
I haven't seen any on the shelf yet, so i'm thinking it's going through the committee of "people who decide what drugs we're gonna buy" stage
, but the way they were talking it sounded like we'd be swapping soon.
The major benfits over byetta are
Only one injection a day
Less risk of hypos (it only works when blood glucose levels are high)
Doesn't cause high blood pressure
Less likely to give you a dodgy tum.
Can be taken at any time of day.
(or at least that's what Novo say...i'm not sure exactly how much to believe from sales reps. That all aught to be pretty certain though)
They also reckon that it has a protective effect on the Beta cells and
maybe and that's a big maybe, it might cause Beta cells to regenerate.
On the other hand, like i said, it's pretty new and i haven't seen it on the shelf yet. Your PCT may differ (as always).
Byetta is still a good drug though. You usually start on a low dose (err...5mcg? i may be wrong) for a month and then step up to 10mcg if all is well. nearly all our patients do move on to the 10mcg pen.
More information on liraglutide/victoza can be found at
www.mydiabetesfreshstart.co.uk
They also have recipes, apparently