Experimental diabetes drugs offer patients hope

A medical assistant holds up a booklet with information on diabetes at a private clinic in New Delhi on November 8, 2011. AFP PHOTO/ SAJJAD HUSSAIN

PHILADELPHIA – Drugmakers are presenting results of new studies of experimental diabetes treatments offering patients hope of better controlling blood sugar and weight and preventing dangerously low blood sugar. Those are all big challenges for millions of diabetics.

Results from key studies of several new diabetes drugs and insulin products are being announced at the American Diabetes Association conference in Philadelphia.

They include Novo Nordisk’s degludec, an ultra-long-acting insulin for Type 2 diabetes that doesn’t need to be taken at the same time each day and prevents low blood sugar during the night better than market-leading Lantus.

Johnson & Johnson presented studies on its daily Type 2 diabetes pill, canagliflozin, part of a new drug class.

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