New Type of Diabetes Medication

 A new type of diabetes medication is being developed, and it sounds great. However, although it works in rodents, human cells, and dogs, there has not yet been a clinical trial of the drug, so it won't be available for some time.

The drug has the decidedly unmemorable name SRI-37330, and it works in part by decreasing glucose output from the liver. Glucose levels are controlled primarily by two hormones: insulin, which lowers blood glucose (BG) levels, and glucagon, which raises them. When you have type 2 diabetes, you not only don't produce enough insulin, but you produce too much glucagon. The glucagon stimulates the liver to produce glucose (gluconeogenesis) and release it into the bloodstream, even if your BG level isn't low.

SRI-37330 inhibits glucagon secretion and function, reduces glucose production in the liver, lowers serum triglyceride levels, and also reduces fatty liver. It does this by inhibiting a protein called TXNIP (thioredoxin-inhibiting protein), which has been shown to be elevated in people with diabetes and to have detrimental effects on islet function. The islets in the pancreas are where the beta cells produce insulin.

The drug has no effect on insulin secretion or function. It has no effect on glucose uptake by muscle or white adipose tissue. It has no effect on the secretion of glucose in urine.

SRI-37330 has no effect on glucagon secretion when BG levels are low, which reduces the chance that it could cause hypoglycemia. And it has no effect on body weight. But in obese, diabetic mice, it reduced BG levels significantly within 3 days, and they eventually returned to normal.

All these effects sound wonderful, and even if they don't turn out to be as dramatic in humans as in animals, it would be nice to have another drug with a different mechanism of action, as we're all different, and a drug that works wonderfully for one person might not be so great for another.

The lead author of this paper, Anath Salev, kindly sent me a copy of the full text. An interview with her can be seen here.