Hormone drug combination therapy gives new hope to tackle diabetes

[Northerner]

New findings from clinical studies on thousands of type-2 diabetics in the US and Canada may open up a new treatment to counter the world’s most prevalent disease.

The systematic review and meta-analysis study, led by a doctor of Indian origin and published in the latest edition of The Lancet, finds that a combined treatment with a drug that mimics the action of a gut hormone and basal insulin is much more effective in improving blood sugar control than all existing anti-diabetic treatments. The new approach also reduces the risk of hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, and weight gain associated with the existing treatment regime.

Gut hormones or gastrointestinal hormones control various functions of the digestive organs. They are secreted by enteroendocrine cells in the stomach, pancreas and small intestines.

Basal insulin typically keeps blood glucose at consistent levels during periods of fasting.

http://www.livemint.com/Politics/Lu...tion-therapy-gives-new-hope-to-tackle-di.html

 

[bill hopkinson]

Strange article because it talks about new treatments. Byetta and Bydureon have been used for some time though rarely economic.
Glucagon-like-peptides would be effective but they are broken down too rapidly so GLP agonists are a better option if they were not so expensive to produce.