Study: Pioglitazone Drug Reduces Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetic Patients

A new research study has shown that treatment with the anti-diabetic drug pioglitazone may help diabetic patients reduce the risk of serious cardiovascular events. The study is reported in the most recent issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

The study was led by Dr. Christian A. Schneider of the University of Cologne, Germany, and funded by the Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (manufacturer of pioglitazone). AN international committee participated in the designing of the clinical trial.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients experience an increased risk of serious cardiovascular events, especially in diabetic patients who may have significant damage to the large blood vessels. This damage is know in the medical vocabulary as "macrovascular" disease and specifically refers to damage to the large blood vessels including the coronary arteries and the arteries that go along the legs.

PROactive is a large-scale study of over five thousand patients affected with type 2 diabetes. Data from this PROactive study was taken specifically from patients at high risk of cardiovascular events due to macrovascular complications.

Almost 600 patients that had both chronic kidney disease and macrovascular complications were selected to test the effects of the Pioglitazone drug. Patients were randomly assigned to two treatment groups: pioglitazone or placebo.

The analysis of the data of this study showed that patients with chronic kidney disease who took pioglitazone had a significant lower risk of death or cardiovascular events when compared to patients who did not take the drug (placebo).

According to the study, participants who took pioglitazone experienced an overall reduction of almost 33 per cent in the rate of death or myocardial infarction. In addition, the majority of the risk reduction was seen in patients with lower levels of kidney function.