New Drug Potential from Squibb and AstraZeneca for Type 2 Diabetes: Metformin is used a lot by those diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. It’s an oral medication that is well tolerated by many people.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and AstraZeneca PLC stated Sunday, July 3, 2011, that their studies of combining a compound called dapagliflozin with metformin had better sustained success in lowering blood sugar levels than those who took the combination of glipizide with metformin. This combination of metformin with dapagliflozin has the potential of being a new drug for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. More clinical studies are needed, but the outlook is favorable.

A side benefit that was noted in the study was that those patients who took dapagliflozin had fewer episodes of low blood sugar levels (hypoglycemia) during the two-year study and also showed signs that they were more likely to lose weight.

Another important point of interest was that those patients taking dapagliflozin also reported a “higher risk of genital infections and urinary tract infections.”

Bristol-Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca have undertaken a combined effort since 2007 to work on finding new treatments for type 2 diabetes patients.

The Food and Drug Administration is reviewing this new compound.

Type 2 diabetes is where the body does not produce enough insulin or the cells just simply do not use the insulin that is provided by the pancreas. Type 2 diabetes is usually treated with modifications in the diet and an increase in exercise, or with an oral medication if the blood sugar levels cannot be brought under control through diet and exercise. Type 2 diabetes is the more common form of diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes is diagnosed when the body produces no insulin, and insulin has to be injected into the body.

Either type of diabetes is a serious condition, and should be treated as such, but type 1 diabetes is the more serious form of the condition.