New treatment for diabetic kids shows promise

5 Dariya News

New York 30-Apr-2019

A new treatment for Type-2 diabetes in children has shown promise in a clinical trial, according to a study.The drug, liraglutide, in combination with an existing medication, metformin, showed a robust effect in treating children with Type-2 diabetes, the results showed."This adult diabetes medication was very effective in our trial of youth with Type-2 diabetes and was well tolerated," said study co-author Jane Lynch, Professor at University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio in the US.Currently only two drugs, metformin and insulin, are approved for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes in children in the US."We urgently need other options for medical treatment of Type-2 diabetes in our youth under age 18. If approved, this drug would be a fantastic new option to complement oral metformin therapy as an alternative to insulin for our youth and adolescents with Type 2 diabetes," said Lynch.The study compared outcomes of 66 children who received liraglutide shots plus metformin pills for 26 weeks with the outcomes of 68 other children who received metformin and a placebo. Children between ages 10 and 17 were eligible for the study.The research, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, was a randomised, parallel-group, placebo-controlled trial.The average age of the participant children was 14.6 years, and more than 60 per cent were female.