Study gives diabetes drug a top grade

Baltimore -- A U.S. comparison of diabetes drugs has found a type 2 oral medication in use for more than a decade has distinct advantages over nine other medications.

Johns Hopkins University researchers -- in what's believed to be the largest drug comparison of its kind -- looked at 10 medications designed to control the chronic disease. They found metformin -- first approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1995 and sold under the brand names Glucophage, Riomet and Fortamet -- not only controls blood sugar levels, but is also less likely to cause weight gain and more likely than other drugs to lower bad cholesterol levels in the blood.

The Johns Hopkins researchers said the main drawbacks to metformin are digestive problems and diarrhea. The main advantages are a small increase in HDL or good cholesterol, and less too-low blood sugar levels than produced by three other older, cheaper drugs studied -- glimepiride (Amaryl), glipizide (Glucotrol), glyburide (Micronase, DiabBeta, Glynase PresTab) -- all known as second-generation sulfonylureas.

The research is scheduled for publication in the Sept. 18 issue of the journal Annals of Internal Medicine and appeared in the July 16 online issue.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International.