ROME, September 8 /PRNewswire/ --
- Advance Treatment Strategy Has Potential to Save Lives and Protect Millions of Diabetics Worldwide From Serious Complications
According to new data presented today at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) congress, combining intensive blood sugar control based on gliclazide modified release (Diamicron MR(R)) with intensive blood pressure lowering based on a fixed combination of perindopril and indapamide (Preterax(R)) can reduce the risk of death from heart disease by nearly one quarter (24%) and the risk of kidney complications by one third (33%) in patients with type 2 diabetes.
These latest results from ADVANCE (Action in Diabetes and Vascular Disease), the largest ever trial performed in patients with type 2 diabetes, provide further evidence for a new therapeutic strategy with the potential to save lives and protect millions of diabetics worldwide from serious complications.
The new ADVANCE results show that the benefits of tight blood glucose control and blood pressure lowering are both independent and fully additive. This new evidence represents an important step forward for the management of millions of people with diabetes worldwide, as the treatment strategy used in ADVANCE reduced both the likelihood of developing and dying from the complications of diabetes.
Intensive and progressive blood glucose control for long term benefits
These latest combined findings follow the recent publication of the results from the glucose lowering arm of the study in the New England Journal of Medicine.(1) These results showed that an intensive strategy including first systematically prescribing the sulfonylurea gliclazide modified release, up to the maximal dose of 4 tablets per day, and then progressively other conventional drugs, lowers blood glucose levels safely to hemoglobin A1c levels of 6.5% and protects patients against the serious complications of diabetes.
In particular, this intensive strategy reduced the risk of kidney disease by one-fifth, and reduced the risk of proteinuria, a potent predictor of increased cardiovascular risk, by nearly one third (30%). These results go beyond existing evidence, and could potentially benefit millions of patients worldwide, since renal disease is one of the most serious and disabling consequences of diabetes, leading to death in one in five people with diabetes.
The intensive strategy based on modified release gliclazide provided all these benefits with a low risk of hypoglycemia (4 times less compared to previous studies) and no weight gain in contrast with other therapeutic strategies based on early and higher use of insulin as well as glitazones, as shown in ACCORD.(2)
Today, it is clear that the prevention of the serious complications of diabetes requires multi-factorial intervention, since the new ADVANCE results show that the benefits of intensive blood glucose and blood pressure lowering are independent and fully additive in reducing cardiovascular death (-24%) and renal complications (-33%). In this context, an intensive and progressive glucose control strategy as chosen in ADVANCE can play an important role, in particular in protecting the kidneys.
ADVANCE
ADVANCE was initiated and designed by the researchers at Australia's George Institute for International Health and co-sponsored by the Australian government's National Health and Medical Research Council, and Servier. The multicenter, randomized, placebo controlled study involved a total of 11,140 patients with type 2 diabetes from 20 countries worldwide with a five year follow-up. The choice of Diamicron MR was based on its well known efficacy and safety profile, as proven by millions of diabetic patients treated every day.
References:
(1) The ADVANCE collaborative Group. Intensive blood glucose control and vascular outcomes in patients with Type 2 Diabetes. N Engl J Med 2008;358:2560-72.
(2) The ACCORD study Group. Effects of Intensive Glucose Lowering in type 2 Diabetes. N Engl J Med 2008;358:2545-59.
For further information, please contact: Sarah Ballard or Claire Mosley, Tonic Life Communications, Tel: +44-207-798-9900/ Mobile: +44-7989-689-283, E-mail: sarah.ballard@toniclc.com / claire.mosley@toniclc.com, http://www.advance-trial.com
For further information, please contact: Sarah Ballard or Claire Mosley, Tonic Life Communications, Tel: +44-207-798-9900/ Mobile: +44-7989-689-283, E-mail: sarah.ballard@toniclc.com / claire.mosley@toniclc.com
