Treatment for Diabetes: For any patient that has diabetes, your body has trouble with the management of insulin. The Insulin produced in the pancreas moves sugar from your bloodstream into your body cells, used for energy.
However, if your body doesn’t manufacture sufficient insulin or doesn’t use it properly, the sugar stays in your blood. Which might probably cause high blood sugar levels thereby damaging some parts of the body.
Types Of Diabetes
Type 1 diabetes: Patients with this can’t make their own insulin. It appears in a variety of forms and is treatable with insulin.
Type 2 diabetes: Patients who have this can produce insulin, but their bodies are unable to utilise it efficiently. This has a larger range of medications.
New Drug Treatment for Diabetes
The development of several novel diabetic medications has occurred throughout time. These include;
New Oral Drugs
With the exception of Stag Lotro, which includes just one medication, this medication is a combination therapy for type 2 diabetes.
They all are brand-name drugs that don’t have generic forms.
Treatment for Diabetes: Xigduo XR
This 2014-approved oral tablet contains metformin and dapagliflozin. Metformin enables the body tissues more sensitive to insulin.
While dapagliflozin hinders some of the glucose in the body system from reentering your bloodstream through your kidneys. It helps the body to get rid of more glucose through your urine.
Treatment for Diabetes: Synjardy
It also comes as an oral tablet, approved for use in 2015. It combines the drugs metformin and empagliflozin. Empagliflozin works in a similar way to dapagliflozin.
Treatment for Diabetes: Glyxambi
2015 saw its approval for usage and it is furthermore available as an oral tablet. This is a combination of linagliptin and empagliflozin. It also helps to slow down digestion, which slows the release of glucose into the bloodstream.
Treatment for Diabetes: Steglujan
Steglujan comes as an oral tablet and was approved in late 2017.
It also helps to slow down digestion, which slows the absorption of glucose into your bloodstream.
Treatment for Diabetes: Segurometal
This also comes as an oral tablet, which was approved in late 2017. It combines ertugliflozin and metformin.
Treatment for Diabetes: Steglatro
This also comes as an oral tablet, which was approved in late 2017. It has a brand name from the drug ertugliflozin. It works in the same mechanism as empagliflozin.
New injectables
These new brand-name injectables are not available as generic drugs. Either type 2 diabetes, or both, are advised to take them.
These insulins act as a replacement for the insulin your body doesn’t make or can’t use properly. They also operate as Steglujan.
Treatment for Diabetes: Tresiba
This was approved in 2015 and is a brand-name version of the drug insulin degludec. It’s used to treat both diabetes conditions. It’s an insulin that could last up to 42 hours.
Treatment for Diabetes: Basaglar and Toujeo
These two are new forms of insulin glargine approved in 2015, used to treat both diabetes conditions, and are injected once daily.
Treatment for Diabetes: Xultophy
This was approved in 2016 and only used to treat type 2 diabetes. It is injected once per day. It combines insulin degludec and liraglutide.
Treatment for Diabetes: Soliqua
This was approved in 2016. It’s only used to treat type 2 diabetes. It’s injected once per day. It combines the drug insulin glargine with lixisenatide.
Treatment for Diabetes: Ozempic
It was approved in late 2017 and is only used to treat type 2 diabetes. It is a brand name for Semaglutide. It’s injected once per week.
Treatment for Diabetes: Adlyxin
This was approved in 2016, and only used to treat type 2 diabetes. It is a brand name for Lixisenatide. It’s injected once daily.
Treatment for Diabetes: Ryzodeg
It was approved in 2016 but is not yet available. It’s designed to be used to treat both diabetes conditions. It combines insulin degludec with insulin aspart. It’s meant to be injected once or twice daily.
There are some Diabetes Medications that are currently in development. These drugs include:
Treatment for Diabetes: Oral-Lyn
This brand-name drug comes as a fast-acting oral insulin spray. It’s designed to treat both type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
Treatment for Diabetes: Dance 501
This aerosol device contains liquid insulin that is intended to be inhaled at mealtime. It’s designed to treat both diabetes conditions.
Commonly used Treatment for Diabetes
Now that you know about new and upcoming diabetes drugs, here’s a list of some of the diabetes drugs that are currently used most often.
Some of these drugs are components of the new combination medications listed above, as well as the older combination medications listed below.
Oral medications
The following groups of drugs are commonly used to treat type 2 diabetes. All come as oral tablets. Metformin also comes as an oral solution.
Biguanides such as metformin
Metformin is often the first drug used to treat type 2 diabetes. It works by slowing glucose production in your liver. It also makes your body tissues more sensitive to insulin. This helps the tissues absorb glucose.
Metformin is also combined with other oral medications to reduce the number of tablets you need to take.
Treatment for Diabetes: Alpha-glucosidase inhibitors
These drugs slow or block the breakdown of carbohydrates in your body. Carbohydrates are in starchy or sugary foods. This action slows the absorption of glucose into your bloodstream. Examples of these drugs include:
- Acarbose
- Miglitol
Treatment for Diabetes: Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors (DPP-IV inhibitors)
These drugs block the breakdown of certain hormones in your body that tell your pancreas to make and release insulin. These drugs also slow your digestion, which slows the release of glucose into your blood. Examples of these drugs include:
- Alogliptin
- Linagliptin
- Saxagliptin
- Sitagliptin
Treatment for Diabetes: Meglitinides
These drugs tell your pancreas to release insulin. Examples of these drugs include:
- Nateglinide
- Repaglinide
Treatment for Diabetes: Sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2)
These drugs block some of the glucose in your system from reentering your blood through your kidneys. They also cause your body to get rid of more glucose through your urine. Examples of these drugs include:
- Canagliflozin
- Dapagliflozin
- Empagliflozin
- Ertugliflozin
Treatment for Diabetes: Sulfonylureas
These drugs cause your pancreas to release more insulin. Examples of these drugs include:
- Glimepiride
- Glipizide
- Glyburide
Treatment for Diabetes: Thiazolidinediones
These drugs make the tissues in your body more sensitive to insulin. This helps your body use more of the glucose in your blood. Examples of these drugs include:
- Pioglitazone
- Rosiglitazone
Treatment for Diabetes: Combination medications
In addition to the new ones listed above, several combination medications have been available for a while. Older combination medications include the following:
- Duetact is a tablet that combines pioglitazone with glimepiride.
- Janumet is a tablet that combines sitagliptin with metformin.
Treatment for Diabetes: Injectable Medications
The following classes of drugs come in injectable forms.
Treatment for Diabetes: Insulin
Injected insulin acts as a replacement for the insulin your body doesn’t make or can’t use properly. It can be used to treat type 1 or type 2 diabetes.
Different types of insulin are available. Some types act quickly. These types help control your blood glucose level at mealtime. Other types act over a longer period. These types control your blood glucose level throughout the day and night.
Some types of insulin include:
- Insulin Aspart
- Insulin degludec
- Insulin glargine
Treatment for Diabetes: Amylin Analogue
The amylin analog called pramlintide is taken before a meal. It helps to decrease the amount of insulin you need. It’s used to treat both type 2 and type 2 diabetes.
Treatment for Diabetes: Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists
These drugs help your pancreas release more insulin when your glucose level is high. They also slow down glucose absorption during digestion. These drugs are used to treat type 2 diabetes only.
Examples of these drugs include:
- Albiglutide
- Dulaglutide
- Exenatide
- Liraglutide
- Semaglutide
There are many factors that can affect your medicine from working effectively. These include for excess fats, changes in your diet or activity level, and so on. This, Making some changes in your diet or in the exercises you engaged in might be enough to regulate your blood sugar level.
At times your doctor might not be able to figure out why your medicine stopped working until other medications you used are carefully examined.
There are other oral diabetes medicines you would love to choose from, and they work in different ways. They include:
- Sulfonylureas: this stimulates your pancreas to produce more insulin after you eat.
- Meglitinides: this triggers your pancreas to release insulin after a meal.
- Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists: stimulate the release of insulin, decrease glucagon release, and slow the emptying of your stomach.
- Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors: this stimulates insulin release and decreases glucagon release.
- Thiazolidinediones: this helps your body respond better to insulin and make less sugar.
- Alpha-glucosidase-acarbose and miglitol: this decreases the absorption of glucose.
More of their medicines might be needed to achieve good blood sugar control.
The addition of insulin to your dosage is another option you could consider. The intake of insulin will ease your overworked pancreas, which can help you regulate your blood sugar quickly, and make you feel better.
Insulin can be in different forms, and it is based on;
- How quickly they work.
- Their peak time, and
- Longevity
Rapid-acting types start working quickly after a meal and usually last around two to four hours while Long-acting types are usually taken once a day and used to control blood sugar between meals or overnight.
Ensure you always stay in touch with your doctor as switching to new drugs won’t be necessary to correct your blood sugar levels.
