Metformin still formidable first line treatment for type 2 diabetes

Generic metformin 500-mg tablets, 

as sold in the United Kingdom
– Wikipedia

DIABETES DIGEST – Oct. 31, 2014 – A new study in JAMA Internal Medicine found once again that metformin should be the first line treatment for type 2 diabetes, which isn’t really the news. The study also found that despite the guidelines recommending metformin first, only 57.8 percent of newly diagnosed patients began treatment with metformin.

FDA grants first US approval for SGLT2/metformin combination

DIABETES DIGEST – Oct. 30, 2014 – The FDA today, has approved once-daily XIGDUO™XR for the treatment of adults with type 2 diabetes.

The dual action drug combines the complementary mechanis of dapagliflozin (trade name in the US, FARXIGA™), which blocks a sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT2), with extended-release metformin, which reduces the amount of sugar produced by liver cells. SGLT2 inhibitors are a relatively new class of medicines that remove glucose from the body via the kidneys.

Liver fat may be key to type 2 diabetes

Victor Shengkan Jin says it is important to find a drug for 

type 2 diabetes that attacks the root cause of the disease 

and not just symptoms. – Photo: Nick Romanenko 

Rutgers University

DIABETES DIGEST – Oct. 17, 2014 – Obesity is associated with the rise in type 2 diabetes, but new research suggests that it is not just overall fat that causes insulin resistance, but liver fat.

Dr. Victor Shengkan Jin, an associate professor of pharmacology at Rutgers University Robert Wood Johnson Medical School notes that excess fat in the liver is not just a condition of the obese; people of normal weight can also develop fatty livers and type 2 diabetes.