Content about Metformin

LISBON, Portugal — A drug made by Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly showed "meaningful and durable" reductions in blood sugar in adults with Type 2 diabetes, according to results of a late-stage clinical trial presented Friday at a conference in Europe.

LISBON, Portugal — Patients treated with a long-acting drug for Type 2 diabetes experienced a reduction in cardiovascular health risk factors, according to results of a study presented at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes' annual meeting.

LAKELAND, Fla. — Publix will offer free diabetes screenings at more than 800 Publix stores this year, the grocer announced Wednesday.

OSAKA, Japan — Two diabetes drugs made by Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. have been pulled from the market in France due to evidence that their use may increase the risk of bladder cancer, Takeda said.

Takeda said its French subsidiary, Laboratoires Takeda, would withdraw Actos (pioglitazone) and Competact (pioglitazone and metformin). In addition, Takeda said it was cooperating with the European Medicines Agency in a pan-European of pioglitazone. Competact is marketed in the United States under the brand name Actoplus Met.

SAN DIEGO — A cobranded Type 2 diabetes treatment may help reduce blood-sugar levels among patients when combined with insulin (with or without metformin), according to a late-stage clinical trial.

AstraZeneca and Bristol-Myers Squibb said that when Onglyza (saxagliptin) in the 5-mg strength was combined with insulin (with or without metformin), patients saw significantly lower HbA1C levels by an average of about 0.73% by the end of the phase-3 trial, compared with a placebo-insulin (with or without metformin) combination.

SAN DIEGO — Novo Nordisk unveiled data from two extension studies at the 71st annual Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association in San Diego that show its diabetes drug, when combined with other medications, may help patients achieve blood-sugar control.

The drug maker found that combining Victoza (liraglutide [rDNA origin] injection) with metformin and/or sulfonylurea helped patients achieve blood-sugar control.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration has approved changes to the labels of several drugs made by Merck, the agency said Friday.

Merck’s Label Standardization Project includes the revision of 34 container labels for 16 drugs, all orally administered pills. These include the cardiovascular drugs Cozaar (losartan) and Hyzaar (losartan and hydrochlorothiazide), the diabetes drugs Januvia (sitagliptin) and Janumet (sitagliptin and metformin), the allergy and asthma drug Singulair (montelukast), the HIV drug Isentress (raltegravir) and others.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — A controversial GlaxoSmithKline drug for treating Type 2 diabetes no longer will be available through retail pharmacies as of Nov. 18, the Food and Drug Administration announced Wednesday.

The Midwest is known for flat landscapes and fertile farm fields stretching to the horizon, but it also is home to one of the country’s oldest and most successful mass merchandise chains — one with a long history of strong emphasis on pharmacy programs.


Where a growing number of chains have adopted generic discount programs, Meijer has taken to giving many drugs away for free. The list of medications that customers can obtain at no charge now includes metformin for Type 2 diabetes, prenatal vitamins and most antibiotics.


NEW YORK — While several drugs to treat Type 2 diabetes are on the market, researchers have found that the best first-line option is metformin.

Led by Wendy Bennett, an assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, researchers reviewed 140 trials and 26 observational studies of head-to-head comparisons of monotherapy or combination therapy that reported intermediate or long-term clinical outcomes or harms of six oral diabetes medications.

PRINCETON, N.J., and WILMINGTON, Del. — The makers behind a popular Type 2 diabetes treatment have included data from two clinical studies in an update to the drug's prescribing information.

Bristol-Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca said the Food and Drug Administration approved the labeling update for Onglyza (saxagliptin), which now includes efficacy and safety information about the drug's effects on patients with renal impairment or end-stage renal disease.