Issue 521

CMS Issues Guidance on Doughnut Hole Discount Program

Lindsey Harris, PharmD Candidate, University of Florida   The doughnut hole has been an issue for Medicare beneficiaries for many years. The costs of ...

Letter from the Editor #521

It appears that all the hubbub about tight control of glucose and increased mortality which has been in the news for years may be wrong. When the ACCORD study first came out, the increase in the mortality rate was attributed to intensive...

Test Your Knowledge #521: A patient calls and says that they do "double red cell" donation...

A patient calls and says that they do "double red cell" donation to the American Red Cross every four months. They know that A1c is about glucose on the blood cells and want to know if this can affect their A1c level.

Treatment Algorithm for Hypertension

Treatment Algorithm for Hypertension...

V-Go Disposable Insulin Pump Patch for Type 2's

V-Go Disposable Insulin Pump Patch for Type 2's The V-Go™ is a...

Diabetes Nerve Pain May Worsen at Night

Diabetes Nerve Pain May Worsen at Night: People with diabetic peripheral neuropathy report worst pain at 11 p.m., study finds. People with diabetes-related nerve damage may experience worse pain in the evening hours, preliminary research suggests....

Sixty Percent of Americans Concerned About Diabetes but Only 30 Percent Take Action

Sixty Percent of Americans Concerned About Diabetes but Only 30 Percent Take Action: Most Americans are concerned about developing diabetes, but a recent study indicates that many of them have not taken the necessary steps to postpone or avoid the...

Insulin Protects Against Artery Damage

Insulin Protects Against Artery Damage: Joslin researchers have produced clear evidence that insulin, long suspected of worsening artery damage in patients with diabetes, instead protects blood vessels. The evidence "suggests that if you can...

Culprit Identified in ACCORD Study

Culprit Identified in ACCORD Study: First author of the new paper, Dr. Matthew C. Riddle commented that, "Newly published findings show that, rather than hypoglycemia being the culprit, as was originally thought.... [There] seems to be a problem...

Culprit Identified in ACCORD Study

It was not hypoglycemia from intensive control or intensive control itself that caused the increased deaths in the ACCORD study. This information will not be reported on every TV station as the original study results were, so...

Diabetes Doubles Risk of Colorectal Cancer in Women

Older women who have diabetes face another potential health challenge: colorectal cancer. Researchers from Mayo Clinic report that having diabetes more than doubles the risk of developing certain types of colorectal cancer...

Diabetes Indicator Higher in African-Americans

Racial disparities could result in life-threatening hypoglycemia and increased complications.... 

Women with Asian and Hispanic Partners Have Increased Risk of Gestational Diabetes

Researchers found that, among nearly 140,000 women, Asian women had the highest rate of gestational diabetes, at nearly 7 percent. They were followed by Native American women, at 5.6 percent, and Latina women, at 5...

Oramed Reports on its Oral Insulin Phase 2b Trial

Oramed Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a developer of alternative drug delivery systems, reported results for the recently completed Phase 2b non-FDA clinical trial of its flagship oral insulin capsule, ORMD-0801....

Pig Pancreas Works for Type 1's

Early trial finds technique is safe, improves blood sugar control....

Age Increases Muscle Defects and Insulin Resistance

The risk for insulin resistance and diabetes grows as we age. A new report in Cell Metabolism, reveals a new contributor to the problem: the muscles of elderly people and of people with Type 2 diabetes contain lower concentrations of a...

Triple Combination Therapy Significantly Better than Dual Therapy for Hypertension

Results from a phase 3, multicenter study of triple- versus dual-combination, fixed-dose antihypertensive therapy in patients with moderate to severe hypertension showed superiority for triple-combination therapy....

Insulin Protects Against Artery Damage

Long suspected of worsening artery damage in patients with diabetes, insulin instead protects blood vessels, a new study by Joslin Diabetes Center scientists indicates.... 

One Sleepless Night Can Result in Insulin Resistance

Researchers found that healthy people who had just one night of short sleep can show signs of insulin resistance, a condition that often precedes Type 2 diabetes....

Eating Nuts Improves Cholesterol Levels

Consuming more nuts appears to be associated with improvements in blood cholesterol levels, according to a pooled analysis of data from 25 trials.... 

Modest Improvements in Fitness Reduces Mortality Risk in Diabetic Hypertensive Patients

In patients with hypertension and Type 2 diabetes, relatively modest improvements in fitness status -- significantly with walking just 30 minutes a day -- reduces mortality risk, according to a new study....

Prostate Meds Probed by the FDA for Risks of Diabetes and Heart Disease

The FDA announced that it's reviewing the safety of a class of prostate cancer drugs, following up on data that suggest an increased risk of diabetes and certain heart problems....

Once Weekly Byetta (Bydureon © ) Delayed 6 Months by the FDA

Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc said its resubmission for approval of a diabetes drug was classified by U.S. health regulators as a class 2 response, which typically suggests a review period of six months....

GLP-1 Once-Weekly Analogue Taspoglutide Found Safe and Effective

Taspoglutide demonstrates superiority in HbA1c change versus placebo as add-on to metformin and pioglitazone....