December 25, 2015 : Issue #813

As we look ahead to a new year, we revisit some of the top articles from the year gone by.

January: Revisions to ADA Guidelines | February: FDA Approves Toujeo | March: Is Toujeo the New Lantus?

April: Safety Warnings on Onglyza and Nesina DPP-4s | May: Cardiovascular Health Tested by Hand Grip | June: Advances in Type 1

July: Metformin May Increase Mortality in Advanced CKD | August: What Coca-Cola Does to Your Body | September: Type 2 Linked with Alzheimer’s

October: The Artificial Pancreas | November: Disaster Inverted: Injection Techniques | December: Breastfeeding After Gestational Diabetes

There is nothing better than looking back at all the articles for the past year and seeing what you, our readers, liked best. This past year, with the help of our great staff and over 40 PharmD candidates, we were able to deliver more than 1,400 articles, facts, interviews, slide presentations, opinions and features.

We sat down this past week and looked at the most popular for the whole year. We learned that as a drug class, the SGLT-2 inhibitors generated more interest than any other class of medications. In fact, the response to this class was so overwhelming that we are going to dedicate a full issue to looking at the most popular SGLT-2 I selections next week.

This week we have the most viewed items for 2015. As sometimes happens, what looks like a big story and a game changer in the first part of the year can often turn out to be only a blip on the diabetes radar screen. February’s and March’s most read articles certainly prove that, and October’s best could be a great indication of the future of diabetes care.

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We can make a difference!

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Dave Joffe, Editor-in-chief

For an easy reference on the latest changes to the ADA’s Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes, just download and print out this 1-page summary of the 2015 revisions.

U.S. health regulators have approved Sanofi’s diabetes drug Toujeo, a more potent follow-up to the drugmaker’s top-selling insulin product Lantus.

Sanofi hoping to convert patients to Toujeo as Lantus is due to lose U.S. patent protection.

Updated label information recommendation is in light of completed cardiovascular-outcomes studies.

Test may be inexpensive way to gauge patients at increased risk of heart attack, stroke, and premature death.

JDRF-funded studies on development of artificial pancreas, encapsulated islet cell therapies, and kidney preservation presented at 2015 ADA Scientific Sessions.

Recent study reported a significant increase in all-cause mortality associated with the use of metformin in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Soda stimulates the brain’s reward and pleasure centers similarly to heroin.

T2 patients may be at increased risk of developing tangles in the brain that indicate dementia.

Using closed-loop system maintained better overnight glucose control.

I asked a patient with erratic glucose levels where he usually gave his insulin injections to which he responded, “In my arms.” I asked, “Could you show me where?” The patient promptly rolled up his sleeves and pointed to the vein in his antecubital space.

Longer duration of breastfeeding showed correlation with reduction of type 2 risk.