FDA Approves a New Treatment for Diabetes

New Drug Described as a Positive Step in Managing Diabetes

The Food and Drug Administration has granted approval for Januvia, the first diabetes oral treatment approved in a new class of drugs known as DPP-4 inhibitors that enhance the body's own ability to lower elevated blood sugar.

Patients will use the drug, in addition to diet and exercise, to improve blood sugar levels to control type 2 diabetes.  Januvia may be used alone or in combination with two other commonly prescribed oral diabetes medications, metformin or a PPAR agonist, when either of these drugs alone, along with diet and exercise, don't provide adequate blood sugar control.

Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of the disease, accounting for about 90 percent to 95 percent of all diagnosed cases of diabetes. Type 2 diabetes cases have surged in recent years, due in part to the dramatic rise in obesity. In type 2 diabetes, the body does not produce enough insulin or the cells ignore the insulin.

Insulin is necessary to take sugar, the basic fuel for cells, from the blood into the cells. Over time, high blood sugar levels can increase the risk for serious complications, including heart disease, blindness, nerve damage, and kidney damage. The drug prolongs the activity of proteins that increase the release of insulin after blood sugar rises, such as after a meal and does this by blocking an enzyme which breaks down these proteins, leading to better blood sugar control.

Januvia was examined in a total of 2,719 patients with type 2 diabetes, in studies lasting from 12 weeks to more than a year. These studies demonstrated improved blood sugar control when Januvia was used alone or in patients not satisfactorily managed with metformin or a PPAR agonist. . 

As a DPP-4 inhibitor, Januvia can help increase a hormone called GLP-1.  GLP-1 is produced in the gut after a meal and helps the body produce insulin, stops the liver from making too much glucose, helps with glucose moving from the blood into muscle and adipose tissue, and also signals a feeling of satiety or fullness.