The drug will be released later this month
Type 2 diabetes suffers will be glad to know that a new drug to improce blook glucose control will be available later this month.
Dapagliflozin is for use in combination with other glucose lowering treatments, including insulin when these, together with diet and exercise, do not provide adequate blood glucose control in patients.
It can also be used as a monotherapy when diet and exercise alone do not work in patients for whom the blood glucose lowering product metformin cannot be tolerated.
Professor Clifford Bailey, Professor of Clinical Science at Aston University, UK commented: "Controlling blood glucose is crucial to managing Type 2 diabetes and the risk of developing complications. Weight management is also important. Dapagliflozin works in a different way to existing treatments. It removes excess glucose from the body along with the associated calories. This process occurs independently of insulin action. So dapagliflozin can be used in conjunction with most commonly used diabetes medications to lower blood glucose, and has the added benefit of weight loss."
Type 2 diabetes strongly linked to obesity and being overweight
Type 2 diabetes affects an estimated 2.6 million people in the UK, nearly half of whom are uncontrolled on their current treatment regimens. Over 2 million (more than 80 per cent) of people with Type 2 diabetes are overweight or obese - researchers have even coined a new term, diabesity, to acknowledge that these two conditions often coexist.
Dr Chris Walton, Consultant Diabetologist and Chair of the Association of British Clinical Diabetologists (ABCD) said: “The ABCD welcomes the introduction of dapagliflozin, the first of a new class of medicines for Type 2 diabetes, the SGLT2 inhibitors. Specialists in diabetes will be keen to work with GPs to assess the place of this new medicine in the treatment of their patients with Type 2 diabetes.”
Up to now, the development of treatments for Type 2 diabetes has focussed primarily on mechanisms that rely on the body’s own insulin, a hormone that helps to keep blood glucose at normal levels. However, as the body gradually becomes resistant to insulin, many ‘insulin-dependent’ therapies are unable to maintain consistent blood glucose levels over time.Unlike many other diabetes medications, dapagliflozin works in a novel way, independently of insulin action, therefore offering a alternative new approach for patients with Type 2 diabetes currently failing with their diet and exercise plan and uncontrolled on their current medication.