Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - Two years ago, researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham were able to show that a common drug normally used to treat high blood pressure, verapamil, could drastically change the course of diabetes in mice, even reversing the debilitating disease.
Early next year, UAB researchers will begin human clinical trials to investigate the drug's effectiveness in battling diabetes in humans, the university announced Thursday morning. The treatment is the only available treatment that focuses on keeping the pancreas's insulin-producing beta cells healthy, according to UAB.
"If verapamil works in humans, it would be a truly revolutionary development in a disease affecting more people each year, to the tune of billions of dollars annually," Dr. Fernando Ovalle, UAB Comprehensive Diabetes Clinic director and co-principal investigator of the study, stated in a release. Ovalle will administrate the clinical trial.
http://www.al.com/news/birmingham/index.ssf/2014/11/uab_to_launch_human_trials_on.html
Early next year, UAB researchers will begin human clinical trials to investigate the drug's effectiveness in battling diabetes in humans, the university announced Thursday morning. The treatment is the only available treatment that focuses on keeping the pancreas's insulin-producing beta cells healthy, according to UAB.
"If verapamil works in humans, it would be a truly revolutionary development in a disease affecting more people each year, to the tune of billions of dollars annually," Dr. Fernando Ovalle, UAB Comprehensive Diabetes Clinic director and co-principal investigator of the study, stated in a release. Ovalle will administrate the clinical trial.
http://www.al.com/news/birmingham/index.ssf/2014/11/uab_to_launch_human_trials_on.html