(RxWiki News) Unchecked high blood sugar can lead to serious complications like heart disease and nerve damage. But a newly FDA-approved medicine may regulate blood sugar in type 2 diabetes patients.
On Thursday, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Trulicity to treat type 2 diabetes.
The medicine is a once-weekly shot said to improve blood sugar control.
"Ask your endocrinologist about new diabetes treatments."
"Type 2 diabetes is a serious chronic condition that causes blood glucose levels to rise higher than normal,” said Mary Parks, MD, deputy director of the FDA's Office of Drug Evaluation II, in a press release. “Trulicity is a new treatment option, which can be used alone or added to existing treatment regimens to control blood sugar levels in the overall management of type 2 diabetes.”
More than 3,000 type 2 diabetes patients have taken Trulicity (dulaglutide) in six clinical trials. All the trials found that the treatment improved blood sugar levels.
Researchers studied Trulicity alone and combined with other type 2 diabetes treatments. The FDA noted that it should not be used to treat patients with type 1 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is a chronic disease in which the body makes too little insulin. Insulin is a hormone that regulates blood sugar. Type 2 diabetes, on the other hand, is a condition in which the body does not use insulin properly.
Trulicity comes with a boxed warning that notes a risk of thyroid gland tumors seen in rodent studies of the treatment. Patients with a family history of thyroid cancer should not use the medication.
Common side effects of Trulicity include diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain and reduced appetite.
Although the FDA has approved Trulicity, it will require further study of the treatment.
Eli Lilly and Company manufactures Trulicity.
