Once-a-week jab for diabetics to make painful daily pin pricks history

London, Sept 8(ANI): A breakthrough at the Research Institute of Mount Sinai Hospital may soon get many diabetics rid of the misery of taking insulin injections twice a day, for the researchers there have developed a once-a-week jab for type 2 diabetes patients.

Project leader Dr. Daniel Drucker has revealed that the new treatment called Exenatideis once a week, long-acting medications that imitates the action of GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide), a naturally occurring hormone that is produced in the gut after eating, reports the Lancet.

Presently, patients are required to take to injections of currently available version of the drug known as Exenatide (Byetta).

During the study involving 300 patients, the researchers compared the results for patients self-injecting Exenatide once weekly against results from the conventional 14 injections a week.

They found that 75 per cent of patients receiving the once-weekly Exenatide treatment had their diabetes under control.

They also experienced fewer side effects and had no increased risk of hypoglycemia (decrease in blood sugars). (ANI)