| New drug improves glucose and lipids
in diabetes
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - An investigational drug called ragaglitazar
delivers a double benefit for people with type 2 diabetes: it controls
blood glucose while it improves the lipid profile, researchers report.
As they explain in the medical journal Diabetes Care, ragaglitazar
acts on two types of PPAR receptors. Activation of PPAR-alpha leads
to decreases in triglycerides and increases in HDL ("good")
cholesterol levels, while activation of PPAR-gamma enhances glucose
uptake by muscles and fat tissues.
Dr. Mohammed F. Saad from UCLA Diabetes Center in Alhambra, California,
and associates assessed the efficacy and safety of ragaglitazar,
in comparison with an established diabetes drug Actos and placebo,
in 125 subjects with type 2 diabetes.
Participants treated with ragaglitazar showed improvements in glucose
control similar to those shown by patients treated with Actos, and
better than those in placebo-treated patients, the report indicates.
On the other hand, ragaglitazar treatment produced significant
decreases in total and LDL ("bad") cholesterol and triglycerides,
and significant increases in HDL cholesterol, whereas Actos treatment
decreased triglycerides but slight increased LDL cholesterol.
"The results of this study have demonstrated the potent effect
of ragaglitazar in the improvement of glycemia and dyslipidemia
in patients with type 2 diabetes," the authors conclude. "A
compound with such a profile of effects could have tremendous potential
to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with long-term
cardiovascular complications."
SOURCE: Diabetes Care, June 2004.
Previous Diabetes
News 
|
