Much like a roadblock, but with a fortuitous outcome -- an experimental heart drug didn't achieve the primary goal of a late-stage trial but it did dramatically reduce the risk patients would develop diabetes.

The anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory drug, the first of its kind, reduced the risk of developing diabetes by 64% and demonstrated a small but statistically significant reduction in blood sugar after 12 months. The study included data from 6,144-patients. The company believes this finding to be a serendipitous outcome, despite the initial shortcomings of the trial objective. They need to confirm it in a large clinical trial. The impressive diabetes results may come as a surprise to investors who have abandoned AtheroGenics or who have been betting the drug will fail.

Heart patients in the study received either 300 milligrams of the drug or a placebo on top of a host of standard-of-care medicines they were already taking, such as aspirin, cholesterol-lowering statins, blood thinners and/or diabetes medicines.

The drug had an undesirable impact on blood fats, raising bad LDL cholesterol by about 12% and lowering good HDL cholesterol by roughly the same amount. There were also some potentially troubling safety signals with a trend toward more heart failure in those taking the drug. In spite of the undesirable affects on blood lipids, the drug has a profound effect on diabetes. Further research will be conducted on the efficacy of this drug in reducing the risk of developing diabetes.