(NAPSI)—There could be good news for the nearly 26 million people in the United States affected by diabetes: America’s biopharmaceutical research companies are currently developing 221 innovative new medicines to help treat diabetes.

Diabetes Facts And Figures

Today in America, one in 10 adults have diabetes and, if current trends continue, as many as one in three could develop the disease by 2050, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Diabetes rates are expected to rise sharply for a variety of reasons, including an aging population that is more likely to develop type 2 diabetes, as well as increases in minority groups at high risk for the disease and longer life spans among diabetes patients. If left untreated, diabetes can lead to severe health problems and complications, such as heart disease, stroke, vision loss and amputation.

The innovative medicines now being developed—all either in clinical trials or being reviewed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)—include 32 for type 1 diabetes, 130 for type 2 and 64 for diabetes-related conditions, according to a new report released by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).

In recent years, the FDA approved six new classes of type 2 diabetes medicines, giving patients and their doctors powerful new tools to treat the disease. Working with private-sector, university and government researchers, America’s biopharmaceutical research companies continue to explore many different approaches to battle diabetes.

What May Lie Ahead

•A once-daily medicine that selectively inhibits the protein associated with glucose metabolism.

•A medicine designed to inhibit an enzyme linked to diabetic neuropathy.

•A medicine to treat type 2 diabetes that may allow for once- weekly dosing.

“Diabetes is a serious chronic disease with far-reaching implications for American patients, families, our health care system and our economy,” said PhRMA President and CEO John J. Castellani. “However, diabetes can be controlled through lifestyle interventions, and treatment with medications can also manage and slow the disease. The medicines in the pipeline represent an exciting new chapter in the ongoing quest to better treat this debilitating disease.”

Learn More

You can see the report at http://phrma.org/sites/default/files /1869/diabetes2012.pdf and get further facts from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at www2.niddk.nih.gov/.

 

On the Net:North American Precis Syndicate, Inc.(NAPSI)