Study says more caution needed for two drugs treating type 2 diabetes
Patients with type 2 diabetes can buy Actos to help control their blood sugar and maintain optimal levels of energy.
Patients with type 2 diabetes can buy Actos to help control their blood sugar and maintain optimal levels of energy. There are several other drugs available to treat diabetes, but new research suggests that two of these drugs may increasing patients' risk for cancer.
Scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles, analyzed records from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for reports on sitagliptin and exenatide, two drugs that work with the hormone GLP-1 to lower blood sugar. The review showed that diabetic patients taking these drugs were at greater risk for several conditions, including pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer.
Previous studies in mice suggested that drugs that work with GLP-1 may cause pancreatitis by causing growth of the organ's ducts. In the researchers' review, patients taking either exenatide or sitagliptin were six times more likely to develop pancreatitis than were the patients on other therapies. When it came to pancreatic cancer, those on exenatide were 2.9 times more likely to have the disease; in sitagliptin, it was 2.7 times.
Furthermore, those taking exenatide were more likely to develop thyroid cancer.
The researchers pointed out that the reviews of FDA data such as the one they performed are "not the ideal mechanism to compare adverse event rates between drugs," but can open the door to further studies.
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