Diabetes News

The new analyses show linagliptin, alone or in combination with other diabetes therapies, lowered hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c or A1C) in elderly patients with type 2 diabetes, as well as in adults with type 2 diabetes with diabetic nephropathy (renal disease).Data from a fourth study found adding linagliptin to a stable dose of basal insulin improved blood glucose control over 52 weeks without an additional risk of hypoglycemia or weight gain compared to placebo (Lilly)

This review provides an overview of the development of incretin-based therapies and explains their differing modes of action compared with traditional interventions (Clinical Endocrinology)

Novartis announced today that the European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has issued two positive opinions for new indications for the use of Galvus® (vildagliptin) and Eucreas® (vildagliptin and metformin) in combination with other treatments for type 2 diabetes patients (Novartis)

A cohort study from the Swedish National Diabetes Register (BMJ)

In patients with Type 2 diabetes, well controlled with metformin monotherapy, addition of liraglutide improves several cardiovascular risk markers beyond glycaemic control (Diabetic Medicine)

New data for Lucentis® (ranibizumab), the only anti-VEGF therapy licensed across three ocular indications, show that individualized treatment with Lucentis provides sustained improvement in vision with a low number of injections. It is estimated that over 80% of visual impairment is preventable when due to conditions such as … diabetic macular edema (DME)

Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that patients taking thiazolidinedione (TZDs) drugs – which account for up to 20 percent of the drugs prescribed to diabetics in the United States — are two to three times more likely to develop bladder cancer than those who took a sulfonylurea drug, another common class of medications for diabetes (University of Pennsylvania)

An injection administered once a month by a health care professional, Lucentis is intended to be used along with good diabetic blood sugar control (FDA)

Glycemic control, weight, and treatment satisfaction improved after switching from sitagliptin to liraglutide, albeit with a transient increase in gastrointestinal reactions (Diabetes Care)

The results from both studies confirm that imeglimin displays a superior benefit : risk profile compared with metformin in type 2 diabetes patients. The encouraging tolerability profile of imeglimin could make it suitable for combination with other classes of antidiabetic agents and may increase availability to a wider patient population (Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism)

An increased risk of new onset treated diabetes was found in those treated with statins showing significant duration and dose effect. Further study is required to confirm this association (British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology)

The new app is called NICE BNF and has been developed to provide easy access to the latest up-to-date prescribing information from the BNF – the most widely-used medicines information resource within the NHS. The app is available to download for free to health and care professionals via the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. Users will need to enter their NHS Athens user name and password to activate the app and download the content (Hopspital Pharmacy)

Our results support the option of addition of basal insulin in patients with type 2 diabetes inadequately controlled by metformin (The Lancet)

Despite well-documented benefits of timely glycaemic control and consensus guidelines encouraging earlier use of insulin, considerable clinical inertia exists with respect to initiating appropriate insulin therapy in people with T2DM. Considerable regional differences exist in the timing of insulin initiation and in the use of OADs (Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism)

Milestone reflects the commitment of Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly and Company in bringing new diabetes medicines to patients around the world who need them (Lilly)