Welcome to our first edition of our new GLP-1 education series. I am sure that every one of you is familiar with the use of GLP-1 agonists in the treatment of diabetes.

Ever since Bayliss and Starling discovered secretin in 1902, and speculated that signals arising from the gut after ingestion of nutrients might elicit pancreatic endocrine responses and affect the disposal of carbohydrates, scientists and researchers have been working to understand and mimic the body's ability to use GLP-1.

Our goal is to give you information and knowledge about this effective class of drugs and how it can figure into your patient care plan. We plan to bring you informational studies, interactive videos, new concepts and ideas from thought leaders about current use and future benefits of this growing class of drugs. Join us this first week as we provide you with an article and video on The Incretin Effect and how GLP-1 works, as well as comments and insight from Dr. Carol Wysham, Endocrinologist and Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington, and Dr. Anne L. Peters, MD, CDE, FACP, Professor at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, and others.

We also want to focus on what is important to you and how your knowledge affects your prescribing habits and the share that with all of our readers in the coming weeks. Please take eight minutes of your time to participate in our survey before June 18 and you could possibly win a new Kindle or Nook.

Each of us -- every human adult -- is composed of roughly 100 trillion individual cells. Our health depends on effective communication between those cells. Over time, it has become clear that the systems that coordinate cellular activity are far more complex than we originally believed....

Mr. Slayton is a 64-year-old African-American referred by his primary care physician for evaluation of his type 2 diabetes. His history with type 2 diabetes includes....

To help introduce this new series on GLP-1 therapy, we've gathered together commentary and insight from leading experts across the field: Anne L. Peters, MD, Ralph A. DeFronzo, MD, Alan J. Garber, MD, PhD, Robert R. Henry, MD, Richard Bergenstal, MD, and others share their thoughts....

Lyxumia™ (lixisenatide) when used as an add-on therapy to basal insulin (in association with or without metformin), achieved its primary efficacy endpoint of significantly reducing HbA1c versus placebo for patients with type 2 diabetes without significantly increasing their risk of hypoglycemia....

Researchers looked at antibody formation when liraglutide (Victoza) is used and whether that has an impact on glycemic efficacy or safety....

Once-Daily Lixisenatide meets primary efficacy endpoint with fewer hypoglycemias than Exenatide twice-daily....