Drugs may treat some diabetics for years

SAN FRANCISCO, June 16 (UPI) -- Some people with type 2 diabetes can control the disease and avoid insulin injections by using multiple classes of oral medications, U.S. researchers say.

Principal investigator Dr. Arthur Swislocki of the Veterans Affairs Northern California Health Care System in Martinez says oral diabetes medications help control blood glucose, or sugar, levels for years in people whose bodies still produce some insulin -- as many patients with type 2 diabetes do.

"Generally, both patients and physicians believe that long-term use of oral diabetic medications is not possible because these drugs lose their effectiveness over time as the patient's pancreas fails," Swislocki said in a statement.

Swislocki studied the VA medical records of 191 veterans -- 188 men and three women -- with type 2 diabetes who received treatment beginning in 1992 and received follow-up for 15 consecutive years. Of these patients, 96 began treatment solely with oral drugs and 55 percent of the patients who started treatment with oral diabetic agents were able to continue using them 15 years later.

Swislocki presented the findings at the The Endocrine Society's 90th annual meeting in San Francisco.