In light of Novo's Meet the Face of Change campaign, I figured I'd address an idea worthy of mention coming out of the Novo product pipeline. This treatment is for Type 2 diabetics but it is not insulin - it's called liraglutide. Liraglutide is a once-daily human analog of the natural hormone Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 (GLP-1). It causes neither excessive hypoglycemia nor weight gain.

Liraglutide works by stimulating the release of insulin only when glucose levels become too high. Unlike many other diabetes drugs - liraglutide also leads to weight loss instead of weight gain. Now we're getting somewhere, Novo!! Patients with Type 2 diabetes treated with liraglutide had a greater reduction in average blood sugar than those patients treated with placebo or insulin glargine (Lantus). As expected, the combination of a GLP-1 analog with a sulfonylurea caused some of the patients to experience hypoglycemia. Okay, point taken. So why impose a glucose lowering drug while mitigating the problem causing elevated sugar in the first place? One drug at a time, folks.

So this is a step in the right direction and I like where it is going. Treating Type 2 diabetes with insulin is counter-intuitive. Looking at another hormone that might interfere with the use of insulin might be the culprit. So here lies a very good idea and I like it. Gold star, Novo! Now when can we meet the face of liraglutide?

Gastric bypass surgery has a miraculous effect on 80 percent of recipients also suffering from type 2 diabetes. Within two or three days after surgery to reduce the size of their stomachs and small intestines, their type 2 diabetes disappears. Poof ... just like that. Mysteriously, it occurs before any weight loss. This is striking, considering type 2 diabetes develops in 95 percent of morbidly obese people.

A research team at Swansea University in Wales is on the hunt to find out why. They are focusing on a protein, Glucagon Like Peptide (GLP-1), which is produced in the small intestine. Dr. Stephens from the research team explains that overweight people with type 2 tend to have lower levels of GLP-1, and the research is measuring whether GLP-1 levels return to normal following bariatric surgery. The researchers want to know if the surgery restores the production of GLP-1, and if so, why.

Dr. Stephens believes their efforts will not only help medicine understand how type 2 diabetes develops in overweight people, it can also provide new evidence for the development of a non-surgical treatment. Read more at News Medical-Net.