New revolution in the treatment of diabetes: Now blood sugar will be controlled with pills instead of injections, magical results in weight loss also.

The speed at which diabetes cases are increasing all over the world as well as in India is extremely worrying. The biggest problem for patients suffering from type 2 diabetes is taking medicines on time every day and in severe cases, painful insulin or GLP-1 based injections. But now such good news is coming from the field of medical science, which can make the lives of crores of patients completely easier. Scientists have developed a new oral (to be taken by mouth) GLP-1 drug, the results of whose clinical trials have been very excellent and encouraging. The most important thing is that this treatment will be available in the form of a small pill. This means that patients who were forced to take injections till now can now get relief from needle pain forever. What is this new medicine and what came out in the trials? The effect of this new drug, named Alecoglipron, was closely examined in the Phase-2B ‘SOLSTICE’ trial sponsored by the leading pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. The main data of this study are as follows: Detailed study: This research was conducted for 26 weeks (about 6 months) in 9 different countries of the world. Patients included: 406 adult patients suffering from type-2 diabetes were included. Positive results: Doctors found that patients who received the pill tolerated it very well (good safety profile) and that the results were equal to or better than the more expensive injections currently on the market. Not only sugar, it is also effective in reducing obesity. The biggest feature of this new oral medicine is that it is not limited to just maintaining normal blood sugar level, but it has also proved to be no less than a boon in weight loss. From the table given below, you can understand what difference was seen in the weight of the patients taking Elecoglipron pill and the patients taking normal placebo (dummy pill without medicine) during this trial: After this excellent result, experts are believing that in future this medicine will become a big weapon for the treatment of diabetes as well as obesity. Also know the common side effects of the medicine. In the initial trials, the safety profile of this pill has been found to be exactly the same as that of other GLP-1 based injections. The most common side effects include initial slight nausea, vomiting, or minor changes in bowel habits (slight upset stomach or constipation). However, experts say that large-scale Phase-3 trials are yet to be conducted to fully understand its long-term effects. Why is this very important for more than 10 crore patients of India? The body structure and genetics of Indians are quite different from those of western countries. At present the number of diabetes patients in India has crossed 10 crores. According to doctors, a unique phenotype is often seen in Indians – our body mass index (BMI) may appear normal or low, but we have excess visceral fat around our stomach and internal organs. Due to this, the problem of insulin resistance (when the body cells are not able to use insulin properly) arises very quickly in our body. In such a situation, a drug like Elecoglipron, which works on three fronts simultaneously – controlling blood sugar, reducing stubborn visceral fat and strengthening metabolic health – is a perfect fit for the physical condition of Indian patients. If its upcoming Phase-3 trials are also completely successful, then this pill will prove to be a milestone in medical history.