Would you dare to choose your own medication for type 2 diabetes?
A new large -scale study offers a new approach to the treatment of type 2 diabetes that suggests that patients take care of their own medication to find the best treatment, according to researchers in the magazine 'Nature Medicine'.
The Timaster study is the first that allows people with type 2 diabetes to choose their own medication, after trying three different drugs successively.The conclusion is that it could be a new way to find the best treatment.
Researchers at the University of Exeter (United Kingdom) directed the study, financed by the Medical Research Council, in which people with type 2 diabetes were administered three three usual prescription drugs, each for 16 weeks in a row.
During the study, the researchers controlled the effect of each drug on the glucose levels and the weight of the 448 patients, and registered the side effects.At the end of the study, patients were able to choose the drug that worked best between three: Sitagliptin, canagliflozine and pioglitazone .. The chosen drug not only reduced glucose with greater effects, but also caused less side effects.
According to Dr. Beverley Shields, main author of the University of Exeter, "receiving adequate treatment for diabetes is essential to obtain the best results and maintain a good quality of life. Our study is the first to invite people with type diabetes2 To successively try common drugs to see which one works best for them, ”he says curiously.
The participant Tim Keehner, of North Devon, was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes 15 years ago.This marketing expert enrolled in the study because its blood sugar level was too high.
"They gave me three medications. The first two did not work at all; in fact, one of them made me feel even worse," he remembered. "Fortunately, from the first moment I took the third, I felt different: I had moreEnergy and I knew it was the appropriate medication for me.
Type 2 diabetes is one of the main causes of disease and death.However, problems associated with it can be reduced considerably if blood sugar levels are reduced.There are several drugs that reduce blood glucose and, although in general they have a similar efficacy, patients vary depending on the extent to which the drug reduces blood glucose and side effects, and choosing the appropriate drug for a patient is difficult.
Professor Andrew Hattersley CBE, consultant in diabetes of the University of Exeter and in charge of supervising the research, highlights that "it is the first study in which the same patient has tried three different types of hypoglycemic drugs, which has allowed him to compare themdirectly and then choose which one is the best for him. "
"We have shown that the patient's choice results in better glucose control and less side effects than any other approach," he says. "When it is not clear what is the best drug, patients should try before choosing. Surprisingly, that approach had never been tested before. "