Home
Newsletter
Events
Blogs
Reports
Graphics
RSS
About Us
Support
Write for Us
Media Info
Advertising Info
Diabetes drugs

Popular diabetes drug useless, even harmful, for diabetics, study suggests

Tuesday, October 24, 2006 by: Ben Kage
Tags: diabetes drugs, type 2 diabetes, insulin


Most Viewed Articles
https://www.naturalnews.com/020865_diabetes_drugs_type_2.html
Delicious
diaspora
Print
Email
Share

(NewsTarget) A recent study notes the diabetes drug pioglitazone (Actos) has no clear-cut benefit for patients with type 2 diabetes, and may even be harmful to users.

The scientists analyzed data from 22 clinical trials involving 6,200 patients who were prescribed pioglitazone -- a member of the thiazolidinediones class of drugs, which theoretically increase the body's natural insulin supply -- for type 2 diabetes. The authors reported no evidence that the drug had a positive impact on patients, but they did note an increase in edema and heart failure among pioglitazone users.

"The kernel from this review is that pioglitazone is effective in glucose-lowering, has some other beneficial and potentially harmful associated features, and just has not been evaluated in the right way to prove that it will help people lead longer and more productive lives," said Dr. John Buse, director of the Diabetes Care Center at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill. "This is true for essentially every drug available for the treatment of diabetes. I am fairly certain that we are better off with pioglitazone than without it."

Buse said that, while the report's findings are not incorrect, more data would be required to truly assess the drug. The report recommended that pioglitazone only be prescribed to patients showing real benefit from the therapy.

"Only in Western medicine would doctors respond to a study that finds a drug to be useless with the assertion that more testing is needed, or that the drug was not evaluated correctly," said health advocate Mike Adams. "If it had been a vitamin or supplement found to be useless and harmful, it would have been pulled of the shelf immediately, no questions asked. It's quite a double standard."

###


Receive Our Free Email Newsletter

Get independent news alerts on natural cures, food lab tests, cannabis medicine, science, robotics, drones, privacy and more.


comments powered by Disqus



Natural News Wire (Sponsored Content)

Science.News
Science News & Studies
Medicine.News
Medicine News and Information
Food.News
Food News & Studies
Health.News
Health News & Studies
Herbs.News
Herbs News & Information
Pollution.News
Pollution News & Studies
Cancer.News
Cancer News & Studies
Climate.News
Climate News & Studies
Survival.News
Survival News & Information
Gear.News
Gear News & Information
Glitch.News
News covering technology, stocks, hackers, and more