The new diabetes drug Byetta (exenatide), the first in a class of medicines called incretin mimetics, is showing positive results.

The drug first became renown for being made from the extracts of Gila monster
saliva. Well, nobody can say diabetes research isn't cutting edge.

Patients who weren't able to lower their blood glucose with other diabetes treatments had success with Byetta:

Patients using BYETTA showed improvements in three important measures of blood glucose control: fasting blood glucose, postprandial blood glucose and hemoglobin A1C (A1C), which improved by approximately 0.9 percent compared to the control group. Sixty-two percent of study participants using BYETTA who completed the full study reached target A1C of 7 percent or less. Less than 7 percent is the target for good glucose control as recommended by american diabetes association (ADA).

Patients also lost an average of three pounds during the trial. Have you tried Byetta? What were your experiences with the drug?