Metformin News and Research

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Metformin is the active ingredient in a drug used to treat diabetes mellitus (a condition in which the body cannot control the level of sugar in the blood). It is also being studied in the treatment of cancer. It decreases the amount of glucose (a type of sugar) released into the bloodstream from the liver and increases the body’s use of the glucose. Metformin is a type of antidiabetic agent.

Deadly combination: Drug cocktail induces cancer cell death by switching off energy supply

A widely used diabetes medication combined with an antihypertensive drug specifically inhibits tumor growth - this was discovered by researchers from the University of Basel's Biozentrum two years ago. In a follow-up study, recently published in Cell Reports, the scientists report that this drug cocktail induces cancer cell death by switching off their energy supply.

11 Dec 2018

Study: Some people with Type 2 diabetes may be testing their blood sugar more often than needed

For people with Type 2 diabetes, the task of testing their blood sugar with a fingertip prick and a drop of blood on a special strip of paper becomes part of everyday life.

11 Dec 2018

New research supports the need for obesity intervention before pregnancy

New research from the University of Adelaide's Robinson Research Institute supports the need for dietary and lifestyle interventions before overweight and obese women become pregnant.

6 Dec 2018

EU and industry-funded project aims to personalize diabetes treatment

Diabetes is a chronic and incurable illness linked to blood sugar that has traditionally been divided into type 1 and type 2. Type 2 accounts for the vast majority of cases – some 285 million – and its prevalence is expected to soar over the coming decade.

14 Nov 2018

Lifestyle interventions may delay onset of Type 2 diabetes in patients with pre-diabetes

Lifestyle interventions, medication and surgery for patients diagnosed with pre-diabetes is proven to delay or prevent Type 2 diabetes in the majority of patients, but limited access to the often expensive treatments is fueling rising rates of the disease, according to research in The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association.

30 Oct 2018

Common diabetes medication may protect against age-related macular degeneration

Researchers from Taiwan have shown that people with type 2 diabetes who took a common diabetes medication, metformin, had a significantly lower rate of age-related macular degeneration.

29 Oct 2018

Researchers uncover new lead for mechanism of action of frontline Type 2 diabetes drug

Canadian and British researchers have discovered how the frontline Type 2 diabetes drug metformin may work to help cells better take up and use glucose.

24 Oct 2018

Study uncovers new mechanism of action in a first-line drug for diabetes

For decades, metformin has been the first-line drug in the treatment of type 2 diabetes, lowering blood glucose levels by inhibiting glucose production in the liver. Metformin also improves glucose uptake and use by muscle tissue.

23 Oct 2018

Study: Targeting specific genomic mutation in breast cancer improves survival

Targeting a common mutation in patients with hormone receptor positive (HR+) HER2 negative (HER2-) advanced breast cancer with the alpha-specific phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitor alpelisib significantly improves progression-free survival, according to late-breaking results reported at ESMO 2018.

22 Oct 2018

Study shows that one amino acid may produce short-term lowering of glucose levels

Type 2 diabetes is driven by many metabolic pathways, with some pathways driven by amino acids, the molecular building blocks for proteins.

11 Oct 2018

Researchers show possibility to restore insulin cell function in type 2 diabetes

By blocking a protein, VDAC1, in the insulin-producing beta cells, it is possible to restore their normal function in case of type 2 diabetes. In preclinical experiments, the researchers behind a new study have also shown that it is possible to prevent the development of the disease.

8 Oct 2018

Researchers assess effects of adding dapagliflozin to metformin or insulin in type 2 diabetes patients

Researchers used continuous glucose monitoring to assess the effects of adding dapagliflozin to a regimen of either metformin or insulin in patients with type 2 diabetes and found significant reductions in mean glucose and other glycemic factors, with greater improvements seen in patients taking metformin compared to insulin.

3 Oct 2018

Geroscience takes center stage in Journal of the American Medical Association

Geroscience--the burgeoning research field that focuses on the genetic, molecular, and cellular mechanisms that make aging a major risk factor for most chronic diseases as we age--takes center stage in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the world's most widely circulated medical journal.

20 Sep 2018

EC approves update of INVOKANA and VOKANAMET labeling to include changes to indication statement

The Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson today announced that the European Commission has granted approval to update the INVOKANA® and VOKANAMET® labeling to include changes to the indication statement for the treatment of adults with insufficiently controlled type 2 diabetes mellitus as an adjunct to diet and exercise.

7 Sep 2018

Study suggests new strategies for using cell metabolism to treat cancer

Researchers at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine have discovered that cell metabolism plays an important role in the ability of cells to start a survival program called autophagy, an unwanted side effect of some anti-cancer drugs that helps some tumor cells dodge treatment and eventually regrow into new tumors.

29 Aug 2018

Medicaid expansion increases access to diabetes treatment

Prescriptions for diabetes medications increased in the first two years after states expanded eligibility for Medicaid as part of the Affordable Care Act, compared to states that didn't expand Medicaid.

7 Aug 2018

Medicaid expansion making diabetes meds more accessible to poor, study shows

Low-income people with diabetes are better able to afford their medications and manage their disease in states that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, a new study suggests.

6 Aug 2018

Established lung fibrosis can be reversed using diabetes drug treatment

Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham have shown -; for the first time -; that established lung fibrosis can be reversed using a drug treatment that targets cell metabolism.

2 Jul 2018

Human insulin as safe and effective as expensive insulin analogs for patients with type 2 diabetes

Patients with Type 2 diabetes who were treated with the newer generation of insulin analog drugs did not have substantially better outcomes than those treated with less costly human insulin, according to a study by Yale School of Medicine researchers and colleagues at Kaiser Permanente.

27 Jun 2018

New approach needed to treat type 2 diabetes in youth

A major study has found that medicines used to treat diabetes in adults are not effective on youth. The researchers say the finding is disturbing because type 2 diabetes among youth is a growing problem.