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UNM participating in study to find better ways to treat diabetes

In the search for more effective treatments for diabetes, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive Kidney Diseases is funding a research study into glycemia reduction in diabetes patients, according to the study’s website.

The study, called Glycemia Reduction Approaches in Diabetes: A Comparative Effectiveness Study (GRADE), is a randomized clinical trial of participants diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes who will be testing one of four glucose-lowering drugs in combination with a blood sugar regulating drug called metformin, according to the GRADE study website. The project will determine the most effective combination of the drugs.

“We hope to determine not only the best medicines to treat Type 2 diabetes in general, but which medicines are best for various subgroups – such as men versus women and older versus younger patients – and among the racial and ethnic populations in GRADE,” said Dr. David Nathan, director of the diabetes center and clinical research center at Harvard Medical School.

Nathan said 36 institutions nationwide, including UNM, are collectively working to recruit 5,000 total participants.

“Recruitment has been challenging,” Nathan said, “but we are recruiting successfully and have a volunteer study population that will help us answer important questions related to diabetes management.”

Dr. David Schade, chief of UNM’s Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism at the Health Sciences Center, is the study’s principal investigator in New Mexico.

“We are recruiting anybody within 60 miles of Albuquerque,” Schade said. “That includes Santa Fe, and we currently have about 120 people already enrolled and our goal is 150, so we’re well on our way here to completing enrollment within the next year.”

Schade said that UNM is the only center in New Mexico involved in the GRADE study and is one of the main facilities in the Southwest. Schade said that the study is essential to diabetes research.

“All the institutions agree that if you have Type 2 diabetes, the first medication to use is metformin,” Scade said. “Absolutely nobody agrees, or even knows, which is the second best medication, and there are a lot of things to consider.”

Schade said that factors to take into consideration when choosing the second best diabetes medication are its ability to improve the condition of diabetes patients, its cost and its side effects.

“It’s not an easy decision,” Schade said. “We’re comparing four different FDA-approved medications after metformin. What we’re trying to decide is ‘what are the pros and cons of each of the medications?’ so practitioners out there can make the right decision for their patients on which to use.”

Schade said that no comparisons between the drugs have ever been done and that the study is important for practitioners to choose the best supplemental drug to use to treat diabetes in combination with metformin. The study is to determine the best of the four medications to use with metformin to treat diabetes in the long term, according to the GRADE study website.

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“We’re going to publish the study comparing these four popular medications with a list of their side effects and cost,” Schade said, “and primary care physicians can decide which is best for his patient.”

Schade said that the study will be useful for primary care physicians for providing some of their uninsured patients with affordable options or options that work best for the patients. Schade said that the benefits of the study expands beyond medical research.

“We have a staff just for this one study of eight to 10 people and they’re all working hard, so it’s a very important study not only for New Mexico but for UNM,” Schade said. “Basically it employs a lot of people in the healthcare industry and the results of the study will be good for everybody to know, not only in New Mexico but throughout the U.S.”

Schade said the primary beneficiaries of the study are patients with Type 2 diabetes, but it also creates jobs in the healthcare industry.

“It takes a lot of effort to do one of these studies,” Schade said. “People take it for granted of course, but it takes a lot of people doing a lot of good work to actually do one of these studies.”

The GRADE study has thus far attained 2,484 participants out of the 5,000 participant goal, according to the study’s website.

“I don’t see any downside,” Scade said. “(The study) is money well spent by the federal government to help people with diabetes, and that’s why they’re funding it, they realized nobody knew what the next drug should be, so we’re going to find that out for them.”

Fin Martinez is a staff reporter for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @FinMartinez.

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