Diabetes News

A new device which acts like an artificial pancreas could be set to transform the lives of people who suffer from Type 1 diabetes.

A sensor relays information about blood glucose levels to a monitor which, in turn, tells a pump within the body how much insulin to dispense.

ITV News reporter Martha Fairlie met a patient testing the technology:

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Doctors believe a drug used to treat diabetes could significantly help people suffering from Parkinson's Disease.

Tests on the drug are still in their very early stages, but initial results suggest it might combat aspects of the physical degeneration caused by the disease.

ITV News reporter Ben Chapman reports:

Read: Diabetes drug moves Parkinson's treatment a step closer

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Parkinson's UK have said it is "too soon to know effects" the common diabetes drug Exenatide will have on the treatment of Parkinson's disease.

This new research is a huge step forward in the on-going fight to find a drug which can slow down, or even halt, the progression of Parkinson's.

Despite these encouraging results, it is simply too soon to tell whether this drug is a blind alley or a breakthrough for people with Parkinson's.

The research was conducted in a very small number of people and, crucially, without a placebo group – making it difficult to draw too many firm conclusions at this stage.

We look forward to seeing the results of a much larger trial to fully examine the usefulness of exenatide for people with Parkinson's.

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A diabetes drug called Exenatide could be beneficial for the treatment of Parkinson's disease, new research has found.

This new study is perhaps more noteworthy for the approach it has taken with respect to the clinical trial design.

All of this was done in a modest number of patients and the results compared with a matched control arm that received best medical therapy.

Using this approach they found a signal of effect that suggested that the drug may well be slowing down the disease process.

All of which is good news not only for patients with PD but for us all, as we seek to explore how drugs already out there could be repositioned.

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• Although research is ongoing, to date there is no known cure or way to prevent Parkinson's disease.
• Parkinson's disease (PD) is a degenerative neurological disorder marked by a progressive loss of motor control.

• The recent study investigated the use of a drug approved for diabetes care, Exenatide, in PD patients.
• Patients were divided into two groups: 20 patients received Exenatide injections for 12 months, while the other group of 24 patients served as controls.

• After one year of treatment patients receiving Exenatide displayed improved cognitive ability and motor skills, while control patients declined.
• The study suggests that Exenatide may improved motor function in patients and provides a strong rationale for conducting a larger study.

The study was carried out by the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

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• Parkinson's is a progressive neurological condition.
• One person in every 500 has Parkinson's. That's about 127,000 people in the UK.
• Most people who get Parkinson's are aged 50 or over but younger people can get it too. One in 20 is under the age of 40.

• People with Parkinson's don't have enough of a chemical called dopamine because some nerve cells in their brain have died.
• Without dopamine people can find that their movements become slower so it takes longer to do things.

• The loss of nerve cells in the brain causes the symptoms of Parkinson's to appear.
• There's currently no cure for Parkinson's and we don't yet know why people get the condition.
• Parkinson's doesn't directly cause people to die, but symptoms do get worse over time.

Source: Parkinson's UK

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A common diabetes drug could be beneficial for the treatment of Parkinson's disease, new research suggests.

Exenatide is a drug commonly used to treat diabetes, however new research suggests that the drug may potentially be able to slow down the progression of Parkinson’s.

Research published by the Journal of Clinical Investigation shows that after one year of treatment, patients receiving the drug displayed improved cognitive ability and motor skills, while control patients declined.

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The main symptoms of undiagnosed diabetes can include:

• Passing urine more often than usual, especially at night
• Increased thirst
• Extreme tiredness
• Unexplained weight loss
• Genital itching or regular episodes of thrush
• Slow healing of cuts and wounds
• Blurred vision

In Type 1 diabetes the signs and symptoms are usually very obvious and develop very quickly, typically over a few weeks. The symptoms are quickly relieved once the diabetes is treated and under control.

In Type 2 diabetes the signs and symptoms may not be so obvious, as the condition develops slowly over a period of years and may only be picked up in a routine medical check up. Symptoms are quickly relieved once diabetes is treated and under control.

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Barbara Young, chief executive of Diabetes UK, has accused the healthcare system of being "all too often not good enough" when tackling diabetes.

People with diabetes needed self-management support programmes, along with ongoing medical support and education if they were to avoid complications and reduce the risk of early death, she added.

Given that diabetes is serious and can lead to early death if not supported to manage their condition, it is extremely worrying that so few people have it under control.

When you consider that there are now three million people diagnosed with diabetes and this number is rising quickly, the fact that so many of them do not have good control over their diabetes means that unless something changes we face a public health disaster.

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