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Two-Drug Therapy Helped Kids With Type 2 Diabetes
Posted 29 Apr 2012 by Drugs.com
SUNDAY, April 29 – Children with type 2 diabetes may achieve better blood sugar control with a combination of two drugs, metformin and Avandia, than with metformin alone, a new study suggests. However, Avandia (rosiglitazone) was recently linked to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke, so it may not be the best drug for these young patients, experts say. "Many kids with type 2 have a rapidly progressive disease requiring early onset of insulin therapy, and current approaches to oral therapy may be inadequate," said lead researcher Dr. Philip Zeitler, a professor of medicine at the University of Colorado, Denver. Zeitler noted that the choice of Avandia as a companion medication was made in 2002, before the cardiac problems with the drug were known. "Given the problems with rosiglitazone, we are not recommending it at this time," he said. "However, no problems with rosiglitazone ... Read more
Related support groups: Diabetes, Type 2, Metformin, Glucophage, Avandia, Glucophage XR, Glumetza, Fortamet, Riomet, Rosiglitazone
Value of Metformin, Insulin Combo for Type 2 Diabetes Questioned
Posted 19 Apr 2012 by Drugs.com
THURSDAY, April 19 – It's not clear whether patients with type 2 diabetes gain any long-term benefit from taking the blood sugar-lowering drug metformin and insulin together rather than insulin alone. That's the conclusion of Danish researchers who reviewed data from 23 clinical trials involving more than 2,200 patients over the age of 18. Reporting online April 19 in the BMJ, they found that taking metformin plus insulin leads to better blood sugar control, less weight gain and less need for insulin. However, the researchers also noted that the clinical trials provided little information about long-term patient outcomes, such as the total numbers of deaths and deaths from cardiovascular disease. This means that more clinical trials are needed to determine the long-term benefits and harms of the combination, specifically the risks of premature death. The researchers, led by Bianca ... Read more
Related support groups: Diabetes, Type 2, Metformin, Insulin, Lantus, Glucophage, Humalog, Novolog, Lantus Solostar, Levemir, Novolin R, Lantus Solostar Pen, Novolin N, Humulin R, Glucophage XR, Humulin N
Diabetes Drug Metformin Might Also Help Fight Cancer
Posted 1 Apr 2012 by Drugs.com
SATURDAY, March 31 – A diabetes medication used by millions is now showing promise against a variety of different cancers. Two new clinical studies to be presented Saturday at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, in Chicago, found that metformin (also known by the brand name Glucophage, among others), appeared linked to a slowing in the rate of prostate cancer growth in certain patients, and in prolonging life for early-stage pancreatic cancer patients. Other studies, done either in the lab or in animals, also hint that the drug might have an effect against liver or oral tumors, as well as certain forms of melanoma. The findings have sparked interest in the cancer field and do seem promising, but much more research needs to be done before the drug can be recommended as a cancer treatment, experts said. "There are very exciting clues from laboratory ... Read more
Related support groups: Metformin, Breast Cancer, Glucophage, Colorectal Cancer, Glucophage XR, Glumetza, Riomet, Fortamet
Prescription Meds Can Put on Unwanted Pounds
Posted 2 Mar 2012 by Drugs.com
FRIDAY, March 2 – Medications taken by millions of Americans for mood disorders, high blood pressure, diabetes and other chronic conditions can have an unhealthy side effect: weight gain. While other choices exist for some types of drugs, adjusting medications is not simply a matter of switching, said Ryan Roux, chief pharmacy officer with the Harris County Hospital District, in Houston. In the late 1990s, Dr. Lawrence Cheskin conducted early research on prescription medicines and obesity. "Some medicines make an early, noticeable difference, causing patients to become ravenously hungry, while changes are subtle for others. A few months taking them and you've gained 10 pounds," said Cheskin, now director of the Johns Hopkins Weight Management Center, in Baltimore. To help increase awareness, Roux and his pharmacist group have compiled a list of "weight-promoting" and "weight-neutral or ... Read more
Related support groups: Bipolar Disorder, High Blood Pressure, Zoloft, Diabetes, Type 2, Wellbutrin, Seroquel, Prednisone, Prozac, Hypertension, Metformin, Paxil, Gabapentin, Lamictal, Sprintec, Mirena
Metformin Preferred Drug for Type 2 Diabetes, Experts Say
Posted 6 Feb 2012 by Drugs.com
MONDAY, Feb. 6 – When it comes to the treatment of type 2 diabetes, the first line of defense is lifestyle changes such as losing weight and exercising more often. But, if those lifestyle changes don't get blood sugar levels under control, the American College of Physicians (ACP) recommends the drug metformin as the first oral treatment that should be given. If metformin alone can't control blood sugar levels, the ACP advises combining metformin with another blood-sugar lowering medication. But, the evidence isn't yet strong enough for the doctor's group to recommend one medication over another for combination therapy. "Most diabetes medications do lower [blood sugar], but metformin is more effective with fewer side effects. And, the cost is less," said Dr. Amir Qaseem, director of clinical policy at the American College of Physicians, and the lead author of the new guidelines. ... Read more
Related support groups: Diabetes, Type 2, Metformin, Glucophage, Glucophage XR, Glumetza, Riomet, Fortamet
Popular Diabetes Drug Might Cut Pancreatic Cancer Risk: Study
Posted 31 Jan 2012 by Drugs.com
TUESDAY, Jan. 31 – A new Swiss-American study indicates that long-term use of the popular diabetes medication metformin may lower the risk of developing pancreatic cancer, at least among women. The researchers also found that the long-term use of another class of diabetes medications known as sulfonylureas was associated with a "substantial" bump in pancreatic risk and long-term insulin use was linked to a bump in pancreatic cancer risk in men. "This result is somewhat unexpected," the team wrote in its paper, which is published in the Jan. 31 online issue of The American Journal of Gastroenterology. Pancreatic cancer is the fourth most deadly cancer in the United States, with an overall survival rate of less than 5 percent, even though it is fairly rare, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health. The researchers noted that previous research has suggested that metformin may ... Read more
Related support groups: Metformin, Glucophage, Pancreatic Cancer, Glucophage XR, Glumetza, Riomet, Fortamet
Four Common Meds Send Thousands of Seniors to Hospital: CDC
Posted 23 Nov 2011 by Drugs.com
WEDNESDAY, Nov. 23 – An estimated 100,000 older Americans are hospitalized for adverse drug reactions yearly, and most of those emergencies stem from four common medications, a new study finds. The four types of medication – two for diabetes and two blood-thinning agents – account for two-thirds of those drug-related emergency hospitalizations. "Of the thousands of medications available to older patients, a small group of blood thinners and diabetes medications caused a high proportion of emergency hospitalizations for adverse drug events among elderly Americans," said lead study author Dr. Daniel Budnitz, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's medication safety program. Medications previously designated "high-risk" were implicated in only 1.2 percent of hospitalizations, the study found. Working with a nationally representative database, CDC researchers ... Read more
Related support groups: Metformin, Aspirin, Coumadin, Plavix, Warfarin, Insulin, Lantus, Januvia, Glucophage, Actos, Glyburide, Glipizide, Humalog, Janumet, Novolog
Preventing Type 2 Diabetes Saves Money: Study
Posted 28 Jun 2011 by Drugs.com
TUESDAY, June 28 – Preventing type 2 diabetes not only improves an individual's quality of life, it also saves quite a bit of money. By treating people who were at high risk for developing type 2 diabetes, researchers reduced medical costs by $2,600 for each person enrolled in a lifestyle changes group, and by $1,500 for each of those taking the diabetes drug metformin over the course of 10 years. But when the savings in medical care were balanced against the costs of the interventions, metformin saved $30 over 10 years, while the lifestyle intervention cost $1,700 over the same time span. "Compared to doing nothing to prevent type 2 diabetes, metformin is cost-saving as an intervention. Lifestyle intervention, though not cost-saving, is cost-effective," Dr. William Herman, a study author and professor of medicine and epidemiology at the University of Michigan, told an American ... Read more
Related support groups: Diabetes, Type 2, Metformin, Glucophage, Glucophage XR, Glumetza, Riomet, Fortamet
Class of Drugs Linked to Higher Heart Risk in Older Diabetics
Posted 26 Jun 2011 by Drugs.com
SATURDAY, June 25 – New research shows that older people with type 2 diabetes who take drugs known as sulfonylureas to lower their blood sugar levels may face a higher risk for heart problems than their counterparts who take metformin. Of the more than 8,500 people aged 65 or older with type 2 diabetes who were enrolled in the trial, 12.4 percent of those given a sulfonylurea drug experienced a heart attack or other cardiovascular event, compared with 10.4 percent of those who were started on metformin. In addition, these heart problems occurred earlier in the course of treatment among those people taking the sulfonylurea drugs, the study showed. The head-to-head comparison trial is slated to be presented Saturday at the American Diabetes Association annual meeting in San Diego. Because the findings are being reported at a medical meeting, they should be considered preliminary until ... Read more
Related support groups: Diabetes, Type 2, Metformin, Glucophage, Glyburide, Glipizide, Amaryl, Glimepiride, Glucophage XR, GlipiZIDE XL, Glucotrol, Glucotrol XL, Glumetza, Fortamet, Riomet, DiaBeta
Vitamin E, Diabetes Drug May Not Ease Obesity-Linked Liver Trouble in Kids
Posted 27 Apr 2011 by Drugs.com
TUESDAY, April 26 – Neither vitamin E nor the diabetes medication metformin worked any better than a placebo in treating fatty liver disease in children, according to new research. Fatty liver disease is an increasingly common, yet not well-known, disorder that can lead to very serious complications, such as cirrhosis of the liver. In the United States, as many as 20 percent of adults and 5 percent of children have the disorder, which is strongly tied to obesity, according to the American College of Gastroenterology. It had been hoped that vitamin E or metformin might help kids battle fatty liver disease. But when the researchers compared the two treatments to placebo on their ability to improve the results of a blood test that measures liver health, they found no statistically significant difference. However, when the researchers compared the results of a liver biopsy done at the ... Read more
Related support groups: Metformin, Glucophage, Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, Vitamin E, Glucophage XR, Glumetza, Riomet, Fortamet, Aquasol E, Alpha E, Aqua-E, Aquavite-E, E Pherol, Amino-Opti-E, Nutr-E-Sol
Certain Diabetes Drugs Better for Heart Health, Study Finds
Posted 10 Apr 2011 by Drugs.com
THURSDAY, April 7 – The commonly used oral diabetes drug metformin not only helps stabilize blood sugar levels, it also may offer protection against heart disease, researchers say. In a study that included more than 100,000 residents of Denmark taking metformin or another group of oral diabetes medications called insulin secretagogues (ISs), researchers found that metformin and the IS drugs gliclazide and repaglinide had the lowest risk of cardiovascular disease and death. "Some medications, such as metformin, gliclazide and repaglinide, are more effective in reducing cardiovascular risk than the other medications," said Dr. Tina Ken Schramm, a senior resident at Copenhagen University Hospital in Denmark. Dr. Darren McGuire, co-author of an editorial accompanying the study, agreed and said the study's findings are likely an indication that metformin, gliclazide and repaglinide are ... Read more
Related support groups: Metformin, Glucophage, Glucophage XR, Glumetza, Riomet, Fortamet
Metformin Still Best First-Line Type 2 Diabetes Drug
Posted 15 Mar 2011 by Drugs.com
MONDAY, March 14 – Although there are numerous options in oral medications for type 2 diabetes, an older drug – metformin – may be the best first-line option, according to a new analysis of research on diabetes medications. The analysis included six classes of oral diabetes medications, and found that all of them lower blood sugar levels by a similar amount. The authors suggest that metformin is probably the best first-line choice because it has fewer side effects than other drugs and, because it's an older medication and available in a generic form, it also costs less. "Metformin continues to be an inexpensive medication and it's very efficacious," said the study's lead author, Dr. Wendy Bennett, an assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. Nearly 26 million Americans have diabetes, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control ... Read more
Related support groups: Diabetes, Type 2, Metformin, Glucophage, Glucophage XR, Glumetza, Riomet, Fortamet
Diabetes Drugs Might Lower Risk of Lung Cancer
Posted 3 Nov 2010 by Drugs.com
TUESDAY, Nov. 2 – Researchers report that drugs used to treat diabetes may indeed both prevent and contain lung cancer. The findings, being presented Tuesday at the annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians in Vancouver, back up preliminary data that some diabetes medications might protect against tobacco-induced lung cancer. "Patients who did not develop lung cancer had a much higher chance of taking one of these medications than those who did develop lung cancer," said study author Dr. Peter Mazzone. "And those who did develop lung cancer were much less likely to have seen that cancer spread outside the chest and more likely to survive longer with one of these drugs." Both metformin and the class of drugs known as thiazolidinediones (which includes Avandia and Actos) are used by tens of millions of Americans. A mouse study published in September found that metformin ... Read more
Related support groups: Metformin, Glucophage, Actos, Janumet, Lung Cancer, Avandia, Glucophage XR, Pioglitazone, ActoPlus Met, Avandamet, Glumetza, Metformin/Pioglitazone, Riomet, Glucovance, Glipizide/Metformin
Diabetes Drug Metformin Linked to Lower Lung Cancer Rate in Mice
Posted 1 Sep 2010 by Drugs.com
WEDNESDAY, Sept. 1 – A drug widely used to treat high blood sugar in type 2 diabetics may hold some promise in the prevention of tobacco-induced lung cancer, according to extremely preliminary findings in a mouse study. In the September issue of Cancer Prevention Research, researchers report that metformin was associated with a substantial reduction (up to 73 percent) in the number of tumors mice developed when they were given a common carcinogen found in tobacco. Despite the fact that there have been no randomized controlled trials on whether metformin really can prevent cancer, researchers expressed excitement both over this animal study and previous epidemiological evidence pointing to this possibility. Metformin (originally marketed as Glucophage, though it is now available as an inexpensive generic) has been in use for more than two decades and is currently prescribed to 40 ... Read more
Related support groups: Metformin, Smoking, Glucophage, Glucophage XR, Glumetza, Riomet, Fortamet
Old Drugs May Have New Use Against Hepatitis C
Posted 9 Jun 2010 by Drugs.com
WEDNESDAY, June 9 – The diabetes drug metformin and the anti-obesity drug AICAR may help treat hepatitis C infections, although much more study is needed, British researchers report. Researchers at the University of Leeds found that metformin and AICAR can prevent the hepatitis C virus from replicating in the body. "We're very excited about these findings. These drugs are already on the market, and whilst substantial clinical trials still need to take place before they can be used to treat hepatitis C infection, we think it could be an enormous step forward in the battle against the virus," Mark Harris, a professor in the Faculty of Biological Sciences, said in a news release from the university. Metformin and AICAR stimulate an enzyme called AMP kinase (AMPK), which regulates energy within cells. The hepatitis C virus needs to suppress AMPK to replicate. By stimulating the enzyme, ... Read more
Related support groups: Metformin, Hepatitis C, Glucophage, Glucophage XR, Glumetza, Riomet, Fortamet