New drug helps with diabetes control

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - An experimental diabetes drug, Pargluva, known generically as muraglitazar, appears to be effective in lowering blood sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes who don't respond adequately to treatment with just the standard diabetes drug metformin, researchers report.

Along with improving glucose control, muraglitazar also appears to improve cholesterol levels, Dr. Ralph A. DeFronzo of the University of Texas Health Sciences Center at San Antonio and colleagues note in the medical journal Diabetes Care.

Pargluva is not yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration, and in fact its future is cloudy. The advocacy group Public Citizen has called on the FDA to hold off approving Pargluva, saying it may raise the risk of congestive heart failure and death.

Meanwhile, the current study compared muraglitazar with a similar drug, Actos (pioglitazone), in 1159 type 2 diabetes patients inadequately controlled by metformin. The participants continued with metformin while adding one or the other drug.

After 24 weeks, the researchers saw that blood glucose levels were under better control in the muraglitazar group than in the pioglitazone patients.

At 12 weeks, non-HDL (i.e., "bad") cholesterol was reduced by 6 percent and 1 percent with muraglitazar and pioglitazone, respectively, while HDL ("good") cholesterol increased by 19 percent versus 14 percent.

Over the course of the study, five patients in the muraglitazar group and two patients in the pioglitazone group had heart failure. Given the low incidence, the team suggests that this may not be of clinical significance.

SOURCE: Diabetes Care, May 2006.