Novartis Pharmaceuticals has announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the company's new type 2 diabetes drug Starlix (nateglinide).
Starlix supposedly increases insulin release, thereby halting the mealtime glucose spikes often experienced by type 2 diabetes patients.
The new drug is to be used alone or in combination with other drugs such as Bristol-Myers Squibb's diabetes drugs Glucophage and Glucovance.
People with type 2 diabetes become insulin resistant (lose their sensitivity to insulin). The disease usually develops in adulthood and is often related to obesity. Currently, about 10 million people have been diagnosed with diabetes in the United States, most of whom have type 2.
OK folks, here we go again. Yet another unnecessary and worthless drug introduced for a problem that HAS NO DRUG SOLUTION. Diabetes is a diet and exercise issue, period.
But we know that drug companies don't earn much money when diabetics exercise and eat a low-grain no-sugar diet that reverses their diabetes or prevents it from developing in the first place.
However, there are plenty of people still out there who are looking for the "magic bullet" pill that will control their blood sugar. Folks, that pill does not exist. But in some ways it is hard to blame these people, as most of their doctors don't know any better than they do. They really believe that this is a reasonable option for them.
But if they are unwilling to do the hard work of changing the food they eat and starting an exercise program, then I guess they deserve what they get. These pills may lower blood sugar, but since they are not treating the cause, they will have SIDE EFFECTS, which, in many cases, can be worse than not controlling the blood sugar.
In addition, in the case of this particular drug (Starlix), although blood sugar levels are reduced, let's look at how this is being done. It is actually causing MORE insulin to be produced. This is bad for several reasons.
First of all, the increased insulin levels will speed up the development of insulin resistance, leading to necessity of continuously increasing dosages of the drug. This continued over-stressing of the pancreas to produce more and more insulin may eventually lead to a complete breakdown, where the pancreas is no longer able to produce insulin and the person then becomes a type 1 diabetic, requiring insulin injections for the rest of their life.
In addition, the elevated insulin levels may result in increased risks of other problems such as cardiovascular disease or cancer.
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