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September 2006 Issues
 European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD)
Summary: The DREAM trial found diabetes can be prevented in pre-diabetics with Glaxo- SmithKline’s Avandia, but not with Sanofi-Aventis/King’s ACE inhibitor ramipril. However, Avandia increased the risk of heart failure 7-fold. ♦ European doctors are excited about Amylin/Lilly’s Byetta, but experts are watching the pancreatitis cases in the
U.S.
to see if they are background noise or a real problem. ♦ Pfizer’s Exubera inhaled insulin has gotten off to a slow start in
Europe
. Doctors are interested but concerned about cost and the device size. ♦ A trial found Novartis’s Galvus (vildagliptin) boosts the efficacy of metformin while cutting the GI side effects nearly in half. ♦ A study found Novo Nordisk’s liraglutide produces more weight loss than Amylin/Lilly’s Byetta, though this wasn’t a head-to-head study. ♦ Merck’s Januvia (sitagliptin) has been launched in
Mexico
, making it the first DPP-4 on the market. ♦ There were reports on interesting new non-invasive glucose monitors from two Israeli companies.
World Congress of Cardiology (WCC)
Summary: The concern about stent thrombosis with drug-eluting stents dominated the meeting this year, and it was referred to as the “Cox-2 story of interventional cardiology.” ♦ Cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, and interventional cardiologists were all talking about stent thrombosis, and that discussion is likely to continue for many months if not longer. ♦ There was no consensus about the level of risk, the cause, or what to do about this problem. However, the FDA plans an advisory committee meeting sometime later this year to discuss the issue.
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Trends-in-Medicine
