New Diabetes Drugs: Good Enough or Smoke and Mirrors?

new diabetes drug studiesToday, there is a slew of stories about two new type 2 diabetes drugs aimed at helping you lower your glucose levels. The big hype is that they are not supposed to raise the risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

You may recall that this issue was a big deal with Avandia, as this popular drug was found to increase your risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

However, if you look at the findings closely, I come away saying, “where’s the good news”? The first drug is Saxagliptin. The study found that, compared with a placebo, there was no increased or decreased risk of developing heart disease or having a stroke. Lost in the headlines was that it could increase the risk of a heart attack by 27 percent. Well, thank goodness I won’t get heart disease, I will only have a heart attack. Saxagliptin has been found to only slightly reduce your glucose levels. Seems like a reasonable trade off.

The second drug is called . This drug did not increase or decrease your risk of developing a stroke, heart disease or heart attack. Now, this is certainly an improvement over the last drug. Nonetheless, alogiptin lowered glucose levels only moderately.

The Forbes article detailing these two studies noted that the alogiptin study was very small and may have missed the cardiovascular link. It also noted that neither drug proved to help you with any health condition related to diabetes.

If you are taking or thinking of taking these drugs, talk to your doctor about it. Maybe print out more detailed findings at Forbes.com.