Health Canada approves diabetes pill

Health Canada has approved a new oral treatment for glycemic control in people with type 2 diabetes. Known by the trade name Actos, the new drug offers an additional benefit of improved lipid
(cholesterol) levels in many patients with diabetes.

This is especially good news for diabetics, since research has proven that lowering lipid levels can significantly reduce their risk of heart disease. Heart disease is the leading cause of death among people with type 2 diabetes.

“Eighty per cent of people with diabetes die of some form of heart or blood vessel disease,” notes Dr. Amir Hanna, Staff Endocrinologist at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. “That is why a novel drug such as Actos that not only effectively treats type 2 diabetes, but may also reduce the risk of heart disease in this high-risk population, is such a powerful tool.”

Effect on HDL, LDL
The new drug has been shown to have a profound effect on patients’ blood-lipid profiles. It is the only oral medication for type 2 diabetes that lowers blood glucose and also raises the “good” cholesterol (HDL) and lowers triglycerides (a blood fat). The drug has no significant effect on LD(“bad”) cholesterol levels.

Actos is the newest addition to a class of diabetes medicines known as insulin sensitizers. Unlike conventional therapies, which work by increasing insulin production or reducing glucose production in the liver, these new drugs sensitize fat and muscle cells to the body’s own natural insulin.

“Each individual risk factor must be assessed, treated and monitored,” says Dr. Greg Curnew, Director of the Coronary Care Unit at the Hamilton Health Sciences Centre.

“So while glucose levels are clearly important and Actos will manage these, there are other factors that must be managed as well. It is also important that people living with diabetes keep their lipid levels in check to reduce the risk of heart disease.”

The need to monitor lipid levels in diabetics was underlined in a recent Canadian survey of physicians. On average, doctors said that fewer than half (47 per cent) of their patients achieved the Canadian Diabetes Association (CDA) guidelines for lipid control.