Weekly diabetes drug provides better blood sugar control, spurs weight loss

From the Canadian Press:
A once-a-week injectable diabetes drug appears to lower blood sugar somewhat better than the same drug injected twice daily, creating promise that the new formulation may be a more useful part of a Type 2 diabetes control regime, a new study suggests.

The drug, exenatide, also has the advantage of triggering modest weight loss - an average of just over 3.5 kilograms - in people taking it, making it the only available diabetes drug to do so. While some diabetes drugs are "weight neutral," most cause weight gain, which can complicate diabetes control and undermine a person's willingness to take their medication.

The results of the study were published Monday by the journal The Lancet to coincide with their release at a scientific meeting in Rome.

Lead author Dr. Daniel Drucker, from Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital, was attending the meeting and was not available for interview. But one of his co-investigators expressed excitement at the results. ..more