Like everyone with type 1 diabetes and almost half of the people with type 2, my wife uses insulin to control her diabetes. When we vacation, we always used to make sure that our room has a refrigerator or at least had ice that we could use to keep the insulin cold, but not freezing.
drugs
Before Byetta became available, most of the so-called experts thought that its biggest problem would be that it has to be taken by injection. But for almost all users it’s no problem, probably because it is much less painful than the fingersticks to test our blood glucose.
The gliptins are coming to dinner. And to breakfast and lunch.
The gliptins are a promising new class of drugs that block the enzyme known by the catchy name dipeptidyl peptidase 4 or DPP-4. They include two drugs, vildagliptin (proposed trade name Galvus) from the Swiss pharamaceutical giant Novartis and sitagliptin phosphate (proposed trade name Januvia) from an American company, Merck.
Byetta was the star of the show at the just concluded 66th Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association in Washington. HealthCentral.com made it possible for me to attend this huge convention and report on it here.