Use of Chromium Picolinate and Biotin in the Management of Type 2 Diabetes:

Use of Chromium Picolinate and Biotin in the Management of Type 2 Diabetes: An Economic Analysis

This paper addresses the potential economic ($1636 to $5435) benefits of chromium picolinate plus biotin (Diachrome®) use in people with Type 2 diabetes (T2DM).

The economic model was developed to estimate the impact on health care systems’ costs by improved HbA1C levels with chromium picolinate plus biotin (Diachrome). Lifetimes cost savings were estimated by adjusting a benchmark from the literature, using a price index to adjust for inflation. The cost of diabetes is highly dependent on the HbA1C level with higher initial levels and higher annual increments increasing the cost.

Improvement in glycemic control has proven to be cost-effective in delaying the onset and progression of T2DM, reducing the risk for diabetes-associated complications and lowering utilization and cost of care. Chromium picolinate plus biotin (Diachrome) showed greater improvement of glycemic control in poorly controlled T2DM patients (HbA1C <10%) compared to their better controlled counterparts (HbA1C > 10%).

This improvement was additive to that achieved by oral hypoglycemic medications and correlates to calculated levels of cost savings. Average 3-year cost savings for chromium picolinate plus biotin (Diachrome) use could range from $1,636 for a poorly controlled patient with diabetes without heart diseases or hypertension, to $5,435 for a poorly controlled patient with diabetes, heart disease, and hypertension. Average 3-year cost savings was estimated to be between $3.9 billion and $52.9 billion for the 16.3 million existing patients with diabetes. Chromium picolinate plus biotin (Diachrome) use among the 1.17 million newly diagnosed patients with T2DM each year could deliver lifetime cost savings of $42 billion, or $36,000 per T2DM patient.

Affordable, safe, and convenient, chromium picolinate plus biotin (Diachrome) could prove to be a cost-effective complement to existing pharmacological therapies for controlling T2DM.

NOTE: Nutrition 21 is the first company to attain such an approval for a proprietary ingredient. Another noteworthy aspect of the agency’s decision is that it is the first QHC that addresses potential risk reduction of diabetes. As part of its review, the FDA also reviewed all of the safety data and acknowledged that chromium picolinate is safe.

“One small study suggests that chromium picolinate may reduce the risk of insulin resistance, and therefore possibly may reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes. FDA concludes, however, that the existence of such a relationship between chromium picolinate and either insulin resistance or type 2 diabetes is highly uncertain.”

The FDA chose not to rely on any of the studies showing chromium picolinate can improve blood sugar control in people with diabetes (n=13) and focused on the one study in people with pre-diabetes. While we are pleased to get any approval from the FDA on the use of chromium picolinate in people with diabetes, Nutrition 21 plans on continuing the dialogue to improve the wording of the claim and to keep the door open to enhance the claim(s) as additional clinical data becomes available.

Interested in Sampling Diachrome to your patients.
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(Disease Management 205;8:265–275) Complete Study available at
https://www.liebertonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1089/dis.2005.8.265

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