GLG News by Diabetologists that Treat Type II Diabetes (US)

1. Yes, more expensive glucose-lowering drugs are being more widely used. 2. No, I do not think that medical evidence suggests that this is incorrect.

1.Hypertriglyceridemia causes pancreatitis 2.Most PCP, endocrinologists, and cardiologists are not effectively treating high triglycerides, and may make it worse by recommending a low fat = high carb diet 3.Accord data with 75% reduction in death, and patients desparate for wt loss will continue to...

At first, it appeared that the reports linking Byetta and pancreatitis were likely due to an association between pancreatitis and the underlying pathology in patients receiving Byetta (obesity, diabetes, gall stones, and hypertriglyceridemia). However, the additional cases of (sometimes fatal)...

Most hospitals are financially built on their heart programs. The "agressive" medical arm is conservative by our standards yet as good as stents at far less cost. If this was truly pursued by large companies with TPA insurance plans, their overall cost would drop with large savings in healthcare costs....

The ACCORD trial results were no suprise to our diabetes practice. We have been heavy users of Byetta since launch in 2005, and have seen the same results in our population of > 2000 diabetics with over 700 on Byetta. Since the Simpson et al study in the Canadian Journal of Medicine (CMAJ 2006;174(2):169-74)...

The co-marketing with Abbott will undoubtedly help Crestor sales, if they can effectively develop a fenofibrate-rosuvastatin combination, and avoid over-burdening physicians with reps. However, there are other factors that will probably have a larger impact. 

Given what happened to Galvus, and the similar poor selectivity of saxagliptin for DPP-4 over other isoforms, I think that FDA approval is unlikely. There was also some data on changes in white count presented at the ADA that will hurt this agent. The FDA move to recommend outcome studies for DM treatments...

This will probably help Byetta sales modestly. However, the numbers ere small, it was a non-randomized comparison, and may be that Byetta use was a surrogate for less sulfonurea use, lower doses of insulin or no insulin at all (any of which may be harmful). However, the main barrier to more widespread...

This study pretty convincingly shows that there is only a short term symptom and quality of life improvement associated with coronary stenting, as compared to good quality pharmacological treatment. This will decrease the pressure for aggressive revascularization of any and all coronary lesions...

The recent finding that Byetta therapy decreased mortality in the ACCORD study needs to be replicated in studies designed to address that point.  Even if it is replicated and statistically significant, it probably will not be true for the widely anticipated once weekly extended formulation...