SCOTTISH HOSPITAL NEWS
TYPE 2 DIABETES DRUG PROVIDES BENEFITS FOR TYPE 1 DIABETIC PATIENTS
A majority of patients with Type 1 diabetes who were treated with dapagliflozin, a Type 2 diabetes medicine, had a significant decline in their blood sugar levels, according to a new study published in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology.
Called DEPICT-1, which stands for Dapagliflozin in Patients with Inadequately Controlled Type 1 diabetes, the 24-week study was the first global multicentre investigation of dapagliflozin to test its efficacy and safety in Type 1 diabetes. The double-blind, randomized, three- arm, phase 3 multicentre study was conducted at 143 sites in 17 countries, including the US It was funded by AstraZeneca and Bristol- Myers Squibb, the companies that partnered to develop dapagliflozin.
The participants were 833 patients aged between 18 and 75, who had inadequately controlled blood sugars with a mean baseline haemoglobin A1C (HbA1c) - a measure of sugar in the blood - level of 8.53. A1C levels for Type 1 diabetics are considered
optimal when they are under seven.
The results demonstrate that when this drug, a sodium glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitor (SGLT-2) was administered as an adjunct therapy in addition to the insulin that patients with Type 1 diabetes need to survive, it significantly improved outcomes.
‘Our paper provides the initial signal that dapagliflozin is safe and effective in patients with Type 1 diabetes and is a promising adjunct treatment to insulin to improve glycaemic control,’ said senior author Paresh Dandona, MD, PhD, SUNY Distinguished Professor and chief of endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism in the Department of Medicine in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo. The 24-week results from DEPICT-1 are important as they represent the first Phase 3 trial in Type 1 diabetes of the newer, selective SGLT-2 class of diabetes medicines as an oral adjunct to insulin.’
RESEARCHERS FIND COMBINATION THERAPY WORKS
BEST FOR HEART DISEASES A major international study has found that the combination of two drugs - rivaroxaban and aspirin - is superior to aspirin alone in preventing further heart complications in people with vascular disease.
The study of 27,400 people with stable coronary or peripheral artery disease from 33 countries worldwide showed that the combination of 2.5 mg of rivaroxaban twice daily plus 100 mg of aspirin once daily was significantly better than only aspirin or only rivaroxaban in preventing heart attacks, strokes and death. Rivaroxaban, often known by the brand name Xarelto, is an anticoagulant, aspirin is an antiplatelet drug, and both are blood thinners.
The results were recently presented at the Congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) in Barcelona, Spain, and the overall results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The study, which was named
COMPASS, was led by the Population Health Research Institute (PHRI) of McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) in Hamilton, Canada and was funded by Bayer AG.
The findings are significant because there are about 300 million people around the world living with cardiovascular disease, and every year as many as five to ten per cent have a stroke or heart attack. Although aspirin reduces the risk of major cardiovascular events by 19 per cent, a more effective antithrombotic strategy could have major benefits for the large population of patients with stable cardiovascular disease.
The clear result of this clinical study - that the combination reduced strokes, heart attacks and cardiovascular death by practically 25 per cent compared to either drug alone in both patients with stable coronary or peripheral artery disease - caused the clinical trial to be stopped early in February 2017 after only 23 months.
ARTHRITIS WILL CAUSE 25.9 MILLION LOST WORKING DAYS COSTING £3.43 BILLION BY 2030
Arthritis Research UK has launched a major nationwide campaign to reveal the true impact of arthritis across society. The campaign will highlight
that, either directly or indirectly, arthritis impacts everyone in the UK. The campaign will also highlight that there are over ten million people
living with arthritis and the condition can cause high levels of daily pain and fatigue.
As part of the launch, Arthritis Research UK has released The Nation’s Joint Problem report which reveals the current and future impact of two major forms of the condition - osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) - on the economy, the NHS as well as families and individuals across the UK.
The report’s key findings include:
• Impact on the economy: Working days lost due to OA and RA will increase from 25.1 million today to 25.9 million by 2030, equating to an annual £3.43 billion productivity hit to the economy. By 2050 these figures will increase to 27.2 million working days and, an annual cost of £4.74 billion.
• Impact on the health service: The
estimated cost to the NHS and the wider healthcare system, on OA and RA, currently stands at £10.2 billion. Over the course of the next decade, an estimated £118.6 billion will be spent on the condition.
• Impact on individuals: One in six people currently have OA and RA, and this is predicted to rise to one in five by 2050; and
• Impact on families: More than three-quarters (76 per cent) of people with all types of arthritis say that their family and social lives are compromised by the condition, and over half (53 per cent) feel they are a nuisance to their families. More than a third of people with the condition (28 per cent) report a negative effect on physical intimacy with their partners.
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