FDA Approves New Drug for Type 2 Diabetes

Neopallium writes to tell us that the FDA has approved the first of a new kind of treatment for type 2 diabetes. From the article: "JANUVIA belongs to a new breakthrough class of prescription medications called dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors that improves blood sugar control in patients with type 2 diabetes. JANUVIA enhances a natural body system called the incretin system, which helps to regulate glucose by affecting the beta cells and alpha cells in the pancreas. Through DPP-4 inhibition, JANUVIA works only when blood sugar is elevated to address diminished insulin due to beta-cell dysfunction and uncontrolled production of glucose by the liver due to alpha-cell and beta-cell dysfunction."

For those of us with Journal access...

[kypper]

Here's the PubMed [nih.gov] link to the Merck Research in the Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.

I'll take a shot

[QuaintRealist]

disclaimer: I am a pharmacologist. I do not work for Merck or any other drug company. I do work for an ICU specialist group.

This drug works by decreasing the amount of sugar produced by the liver. In most type II diabetics the liver produces too much, for reasons we only partly understand. It also makes the pancreas produce more insulin in response to high blood sugar. This mechanism is also defective in type II diabetes, again for reasons poorly understood. It does these things by a new mechanism of action, and is the first drug that affects the first problem I listed above.

Does your father go to an endocrinologist? Diabetes is still not as well understood as we would like, and this is the third brand new treatment for diabetes in the last couple of years (one of them is for type I diabetics only). There are a lot of new options out there.

Re:Actually...

[CyberZen]

Explain all the thin, old people with type II, then.

Really, I'm sick of this "lose a little weight and the diabetes is gone ingorance. Type II is not fully understood, and is made worse by primarily two things:

1) Weight
2) Time.

Even a thin person who has type II, or a type II who loses all of their excess fat, will worsen with age.

Re:Why the hostility?

[Temkin]

I've often wondered the same thing. I suspect there's a lot of misinformation floating around out there with regards to type 2 diabetes. Cause and effect are really not easy to tease apart with this disease, and the finger pointing may give some people a sense of vindication for their own lifestyle choices, and/or a bit of schadenfreude. It's easy to sit at a computer and type trash when you consider yourself immune because you play ultimate frisbee everyday at lunch. But it's a false sense of security. I became type 2 while doing outdoor science research, hiking all day, 6 days a week.

A1C - 5.5% on a modified Atkins diet. Drives my flaming idealist vegetarian sister-in-law nuts... I tell her "Get over it... biochemically, I'm a carnivore". :-)

Since a lot of diabetics will be reading this ...

[Monkelectric]

I'd like to say to all the diabetics out there (I am a t2) that Cinnamon of all things has helped my diabetes tremendously. ome studies have shown that Cinnamon can lower blood sugar levels quite a bit and help with cholesterol [newscientist.com]. It appears as if certain types of cinnamon contain molecules wich are chemically similar to insulin -- and as such can activate insulin receptors.

I have been doing this for the last few months and it has really turned the tide for me, before I really felt like I was loosing the battle against diabetes. The only trick is finding the right *kind* of cinnamon can be difficult. There are hundreds of types of cinnamon and the kind you want is commonly called "cassia" or "cinnamonium aromium" (sp?) or sometimes "cinnamonium romulus" (generally the chinese name). It is grown in indonesia and china. Problem being that most cinnamons sold in the US are blends of Saigon Cinnamon which does not seem to have the same properties. A number of nutrition stores sell cinnamon pills (vitamin shoppe, gnc) that have the correct cinnamon in them. Currently the best price i've found is at GNC -- if you buy their GNC card ($15/year) it knocks a bottle of 200 pills down to about $12. Before you say "thats expensive for cinammon" as yourself -- what are you spending on medication right now? On your glucophage, on your metformin, on your zocor, on your benazepril, on your insulin?

For me the cinnamon does not have the horrible side effects of things like metformin and glucophage. The side effects (sudden intense hunger, increased appetite) make me eat more, gain weight, and thus require more medication. I am not suggesting you replace your medications for cinnamon, but if you are having trouble controlling your blood sugar, try adding cinnamon to your diet. If you are not having trouble, try replacing some of your medication with cinnamon.

I am planning on starting a website soon about this to try and get the word out. How many times in life is there something simple and safe that can improve your health?