One year of exenatide therapy, as compared to insulin glargine, markedly improved different indices of beta-cell function, along with similar glycemic improvement, on top of losing weight - according to the study results recently announced by Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Eli Lilly and Company.

In this study, people with type 2 diabetes who used exenatide for one year, compared to those treated with insulin glargine, showed significant improvements in beta-cell function as measured by arginine and glucose induced C-peptide (a peptide associated with insulin production) secretion during a glucose clamp procedure (a technique used to assess insulin secretion)(2,3).

Specifically, C-peptide secretion in response to arginine administration (which produces maximal beta-cell stimulation) was 146 percent greater after one year of treatment with exenatide when compared to insulin glargine (mean ratio relative to baseline for exenatide and insulin glargine + or -SEM: 3.19 + or - 0.24 vs. 1.31 + or - 0.07, respectively, p<0.0001).

If you do not know yet, exenatide is marketed by Amylin and Eli Lilly as BYETTA® (exenatide) injection- an incretin mimetic for the treatment of type 2 diabetes - a popularly beneficial diabetes drug for those who have failed to benefit from other previously used diabetes drugs.

On the other hand, insulin glargine is use to treat those with type 1 diabetes (condition in which the body does not produce insulin and therefore cannot control the amount of sugar in the blood) or type 2 diabetes (condition in which the body does not use insulin normally and, therefore, cannot control the amount of sugar in the blood).

Insulin glargine is marketed as Lantus® by Sanofi-Aventis.

The above findings were presented at the 43rd Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Amsterdam, The Netherlands

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