Cyndrome

Posts Tagged ‘Diabetes Drug’

Diabetes also known as diabetes mellitus is classified as a metabolism disorder. Diabetes occurs when the body produces no insulin, low insulin or when the cells are incapable or cannot accept insulin, this hormone is produced in sufficient quantity by the pancreas. The food consumed by the body is turned into glucose the primary fuel of the body, glucose enters the cells when insulin is present, however in the absence of insulin the cells are unable to accept glucose thus the excess sugar is passed through the system in the form of urine.

This disease leads to several future complications such as adult blindness, end-stage renal disease (ESRD), gangrene, amputations and in severe cases can lead to coma.

The types of Diabetes can be classified into the following three

Diabetes Type 1 – The patient produces no insulin at all.

Diabetes Type 2 – The patient doesn’t produce enough insulin, or is not working properly.

Gestational Diabetes – The patient develop diabetes just during her pregnancy.

Diabetes Types 1 and 2 are chronic medical conditions which means that they are persistent and perpetual.

Classification of Antidiabetic Drugs

Due to such risks patients must ensure to receive long-term and often lifelong treatments to maintain the stability in their blood sugar, thus reducing the risk of further complications.

Antidiabetic drugs can be classified into two categories:

Insulin injections

These injections are used to control the high blood sugar by providing the body with the amount of insulin which the body was naturally supposed to create, thus these injections only control blood sugar and does not cure it. These injections are required by people suffering from Type 1 diabetes or in people who have Type 2 when it cannot be controlled with oral medications alone. Ensure to follow your doctors prescriptions to the letter, do not alter or change your prescribed dose or change your insulin brand without consulting your doctor.

Oral anti diabetic drugs

This type of drug is mostly suitable for adult patients. There are mainly two types of oral anti diabetic drugs:

Sulphonylureas

This is one of the oldest type of drugs used to treat Type 2 diabetes, this drug stimulates the pancreas to release more insulin into the blood stream and thus increases insulin secretion. There are several “generations” of this classification of medicines. Second and third generations are more widely prescribed today.

First generation: Orinase, Tolinase and Diabines

Second generation: Glucotrol (glipizide), Glucotrol XL (extended-release glipizide), Micronase or Diabeta (glyburide)

Third generation: Amaryl (glimepiride)

Biguanides Metformin

Januvia (sitagliptin phosphate): The first of the DPP-4 inhibitors to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Januvia is an oral medication which is taken once a day, either alone with diet and exercise, or in combination with other oral diabetes medications.

Diabetes – Life Adaptations

However with the use of such drugs, it becomes important for the patient to undertake a few changes in his lifestyle, such as sticking to the dosing schedule and the diet prescribed by the doctor or dietitian. Avoid high-calorie and fatty food

• Conduct regular urine and blood tests to evaluate the progress of your conditions.

• Maintain personal hygiene to prevent complications such as skin infections.

• Quit smoking and alcohol.

• Eat the right amount at regular intervals. Do not delay mealtimes.

• Last but far from least,consistent exercise is critical to managing diabetes and avoiding complications.

SCIENTISTS AT Trinity College Dublin have come up with a possible new way to treat the onset of type 2 diabetes. They identified a substance that helps to trigger damage associated with the disease, opening the possibility of new drug therapies.

Type 2 diabetes is a world health issue given its increasing incidence, largely driven by obesity, explained Prof Luke O’Neill, professor of biochemistry in Trinity College Dublin’s Immunology Research Centre.

It is “a big problem in Ireland”, Prof O’Neill said. “There is a huge need to come up with new treatments.”

Estimates suggest that up to 14 per cent of the Irish population over 40 have diabetes, and a tenth of the entire healthcare budget is spent treating diabetes and its complications, Prof O’Neill said.

More than 2,000 people die here every year as a result of diabetes-related diseases.

Diabetes occurs when the body cannot properly regulate sugar levels in the body. This in turn causes damage to a wide range of tissues over time if not controlled by giving the hormone insulin.

Symptoms include fatigue, blurred vision, slow wound healing particularly in the extremities and damage to organs. It also leaves diabetics with a higher risk of heart attacks.

Type 1 diabetes usually arises in childhood when the pancreatic cells that make insulin are destroyed by the body’s own immune system.

Type 2 usually arises later and in the main is a lifestyle disorder, in particular brought on by obesity.

Both types leave the body unable to regulate sugar levels, with type 2 controlled by insulin tablets and a careful diet. Both also are linked to an inappropriate immune response that sees our protective immune cells causing damage to the pancreas.

The researchers have opened the way for new treatments as a result of their discovery, details of which were published online yesterday by the leading journal, Nature Immunology.

“We have found what might be the straw that breaks the camel’s back in type 2 diabetes,” stated Dr Seth Masters, lead author of the publication.

It is all down to a substance known as Islet Amyloid Polypeptide (IAPP), Prof O’Neill said.

“We have come across a key protein in the body called IAPP. This irritates the immune system in the body,” Prof O’Neill said. “It is a breakthrough because nobody has come across this before.”

The effect of IAPP is to ramp up the immune response where it occurs in the pancreas.

NICE gave its backing to wider use of once-a-day Victoza (liraglutide), designed to help patients stabilise their blood sugar levels.

The drug can be used on obese people as well as diabetics who are not overweight. It acts by reducing appetite and stimulating the release of insulin.

The drug itself differs from insulin in its make-up and provides patients with a “step” between oral tablets and going on to insulin.

NICE has published draft guidance recommending a 1.2mg dose of the drug each day was suitable for some diabetics, but adding there did not appear to be any extra benefit gained from a higher 1.8mg dose.

Victoza must be taken in combination with other diabetes drugs, according to the the guidance, and treatment should only be continued if the patient is benefiting.

Type 2 diabetes is linked to obesity and inactive lifestyles.

Dr Carole Longson, health technology evaluation centre director at NICE, said: “There are about 2.5 million people in the UK living with diabetes – 90% of whom have type 2 diabetes.

“It is a serious, progressive disease, and so we are pleased to be able to recommend liraglutide 1.2mg daily as a clinically and cost effective treatment option for some patients with type 2 diabetes.”

Evidence from the manufacturer Novo Nordisk suggests almost 5,500 patients would go on to the drug in the first year.

London, Sep 6 (IANS) Medical experts have urged a ban on Avandia, a drug taken by up to 100,000 diabetic patients in Britain, because it increases risks of heart attack.

The Commission on Human Medicines said the “risks of rosiglitazone (Avandia) outweigh its benefits” and called for prompt action.

Clinical pharmacologist Yoon Loke of the University of East Anglia estimated that the drug causes around 1,000 extra heart attacks a year in Britain, reports the Daily Mail.

Avandia was approved by the European Medicines Agency in 2000 to help reduce blood sugar in patients with type 2 diabetes, the form that usually strikes in middle and old ages, reports the British Medical Journal.

It became one of the best-selling global drugs, with sales of more than &pound1.5 billion. In Britain, doctors wrote out more than a million prescriptions for it last year at a cost of around &pound30 million.

The warning, which raises concerns about the way drugs are tested and regulated, comes in the wake of calls for its withdrawal by the committee responsible for drug safety in the UK, three months ago.

But despite the warning to the general practitioners to alert them, patients were not informed and thousands are still on the drug.

Experts stressed that patients should not stop taking medication without first seeing their doctor – but urged doctors to review the way they treated diabetes.

Its manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline, said: “Extensive research showed the drug was safe and effective”.

A new study has found that diabetics using the drug metformin can reduce the risk of getting lung cancer . The drug seems to block the development of tumours on animals, but it is hoped that it will also be effective for humans, as there have been early indications that smokers who take metformin to treat their diabetes have a lower incidence of cancer .

The study involved treating mice with metformin for a 13-week period after they were exposed to the cancer-causing agents found in tobacco smoke. The number of tumours in mice that had been given metformin decreased by up to a half if the drug was given by mouth, and by 72 per cent if it was injected.

If metformin indeed lowers the risk of getting lung cancer for diabetics, it could be the first drug treatment that could prevent smoking-related cancer before it takes hold. However, even if proven successful, the drug will not deter other smoking-related illnesses, including heart problems and emphysema .

Phillip Dennis, senior investigator in the medical oncology branch of the National Cancer Institute in America, recently commented that “This well-tolerated diabetes drug was able to prevent tobacco-carcinogen-induced lung tumors.”