June 8, 2021 : Issue #1139

DISASTERS AVERTED — Near Miss Case Studies

In Search for Culprit Behind Glucose Swings, Investigate Non-diabetes Medications

TOP STORIES — Diabetes News and Research

Association Between Cell Death and Diabetes

Dapagliflozin as a Possible Diabetes Prevention Drug?

Not All Bugs Are Bad: Novel Probiotic Formulation for T2DM

MOST POPULAR ARTICLES OF THE MONTH

#1 New Weight Loss Combo

#2 FDA Approves 1st AI Insulin Pen Cap, Making Insulin Dosing Simple

#3 Doubling the Semaglutide Dose Improves Weight Loss

Whenever Steve or I did a diabetes class for patients or a CE for pharmacists, we always let the participants know that the best way to prevent diabetes was to live like you have it. We were referring to food choices and physical activity, and if you could eat and move like you were treating your diabetes, you would most likely never get it. In the past, we saw research and suggestions that if you gave patients low dose metformin, you could also prevent diabetes; remember the super pill? Now that we have newer medications that have multiple indications, it makes sense that pretreating would aid in prevention.

A new study from Diabetes Care, reviewed by our intern Laura Martínez López from LECOM College of Pharmacy, shows that one of the drugs in the SGLT-2 inhibitor class has been shown to reduce the incidence of diabetes by over 30% in at-risk patients. To find out which of the class has the science behind it, click here.

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We can make a difference!

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Dave Joffe

Editor-in-chief

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a 2.4 mg/week subcutaneous dose of the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist semaglutide (Novo Nordisk) for weight loss. Specifically, this drug format and dosage are approved as an adjunct to a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity to treat adults who have obesity (body mass index [BMI] ≥ 30 kg/m2) or are overweight (BMI ≥ 27 kg/m2) with at least one weight-related comorbidity. The four 68-week trials of subcutaneous semaglutide 2.4 mg/week versus placebo were published in the New England Journal of Medicine (STEP 1), The Lancet (STEP 2), and  JAMA (STEP 3,  STEP 4) in February and March 2021.

Recently I had a patient who was referred to me due to increased glucose levels, which happens all the time. However, this patient was referred because of the recent changes in fasting glucose levels. After attending a group diabetes class, the patient seemed to be improving self care and average fasting glucoses had dropped from around 165 mg/dl to 130 mg/dl. The readings held like this for two months and then started to rise again….

Pyroptosis causes cell death, leading to beta-cell dysfunction and diabetes mellitus.

Study finds incidence of type 2 diabetes reduced by 32% in participants taking dapagliflozin vs. placebo. 

A recently published study suggests that supplementation with select strains of naturally occurring gut bacteria may improve postprandial glucose control in patients with T2DM.