Anyone heard of this? I saw an article in today's West Australian which contained:
Drug companies are racing to become the first to market a new class of type 2 diabetes medication which flushes excess blood sugar from the body.
Bristol-Myers Squibb hopes its experimental drug dapagliflozin will be the first of the anti-diabetes drugs known as SGLT2-inhibitors released. These drugs block the re-absorption of glucose by helping the kidneys remove glucose from the body.
GlaxoSmithKline is working on the drug sergliflozin, which using the same concept, to try to capture its share of potentially a massive global market.
Type 2 diabetes is caused by an inability to use or produce the hormone insulin and can lead to heart disease, kidney failure, blindness and amputations. In the US alone, almost 21 million people, most overweight and older than 40, are affected.
A small study presented to an American Diabetes Association meeting in Chicago this week shows dapagliflozin can rid the body of excess blood sugar within hours, making it easier for people with type 2 diabetes to control their glucose levels. It seems to work whether combined with the older medicine metformin or not.
Tests on 47 patients over two weeks found dapagliflozin lowered blood sugar levels more than a placebo.