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Key to kidney protection for diabetes patients

07/27/2008

New results of ADVANCE (Action in Diabetes and Vascular Disease), the world’s largest ever and most representative study of diabetes, show that, compared to standard glucose (sugar) control, intensive blood glucose treatment using Diamicron MR and other drugs as required, protects patients against serious complications of the disease.

The intensive treatment strategy specifically reduces the risk of kidney disease, one of the most serious and disabling consequences of diabetes, leading to death in one out of five diabetes patients.

ADVANCE results show that reducing the hemoglobin A1-c level, a marker of blood glucose control, to 6.5 percent is a safe and effective way to reduce serious complications of diabetes. The intensive treatment strategy reduces risk of kidney disease by up to 21 percent and also results in:

o 30 percent risk reduction of development of proteinuria, a well-established marker of increased cardiovascular threat.

o A positive trend towards reduction of the risk of cardiovascular death by up to 12 percent.

o 10 percent reduction of overall risk of serious diabetes complications.

o Safely controlled blood glucose.

The ADVANCE study involved 11,140 Type-2 diabetes patients from 215 health centers in 20 different countries who were treated and followed up for almost six years. To achieve the hemoglobin target, Diamicron MR was used for all patients. Diamicron MR is generic name gliclazide, a derivative of sulfonylurea, from a class of anti-diabetic drugs used in the management of diabetes mellitus type 2.

Initiated and designed by physicians at Australia’s George Institute for International Health, the study was conducted by a group of independent medical researchers from 20 countries worldwide. ADVANCE aimed to reduce diabetes complications through the reduction of hemoglobin levels A1-c to 6.5 percent or below. The new results were recently presented at the American Diabetes Association and published in the New England Journal of Medicine. In the country, major findings of ADVANCE were presented at the Unite for Diabetes, a worldwide campaign enjoining doctors to support global awareness on diabetes.

Unite for Diabetes was organized by the Philippine Diabetes Association Inc., Philippine Society of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Institute for Studies on Diabetes Foundation Inc. and Diabetes Center Philippines.

Marian Andaluz, Corporate Relations and Regulatory Affairs manager of Servier Philippines Inc., articulates the benefit of the study’s findings. “The results of the ADVANCE study give doctors a new strategy for protecting the approximately 250 million diabetes patients in the world, almost four million of which are Filipinos.” Servier is a research-based organization at the forefront of diabetes research and management in the country. It is the manufacturer of Diamicron MR, the drug used in the study.

Diabetes mellitus is the 8th leading cause of death in the Philippines; globally, it ranks as the fourth. The disease may already be considered an epidemic, with the total number of affected seen to balloon to 380 million by 2025. If not managed well, diabetes could lead to heart attacks, kidney failures, blindness, amputation and obesity.