Research Suggests Individualized Treatment For Diabetes Patients
An international multi-disciplinary panel of experts just gave recommendation of individualized treatment with the sole objective of treating patients with type 2 diabetes.
The recommendations were given in a consensus statement to be published in the April 2010 issue of the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and metabolism (JCEM). The experts of the group belong to fields like diabetes epidemiology, physiology, genetics, Clinical trials and clinical care.
Diabetes is a disease affecting over 24 million people in United States itself and a close to 250 million people worldwide. The treatment mainly aims at the lowering of glycemic levels, but the irony lies in the fact that only slightly more than half of patients diagnosed and treated for diabetes reach their glycemic targets leaving a substantial population still imposed to the same damages of hyperglycemia.
The experts have rather started believing that the physiological as well a genetic difference between diabetes patients can further help in elucidating type 2 diabetes and lead to individualized treatments for patients to help improve their glycemic levels as well as minimize risk and ultimately help in reducing diabetes complications.
Robert Smith, MD of Brown University in Providence,R.I and co- author of the following statement commented that, "Recent advances in genetics such as the identification of the responsible genes for several forms of Maturity Onset Diabetes of the Young (MODY), now referred to as monogenic diabetes, have established precedents linking specific drug therapies to defined subtypes of diabetes patients,As more genetic factors related to type 2 diabetes are identified and as our understanding of the progression of the disease evolves, we can expect to gain precision in identifying the best drug choices for individual patients and to more effectively halt the progression of diabetes."
“The recommendations in this consensus statement highlight the need for the research community and industry to each play their part in improving our ability to individualize therapy so that patients can get the most accurate and appropriate treatment." as proclaimed by Robert A. Vigersky, MD ,president of The Endocrine Society also further continued stating that, "The progress already seen has stemmed from combining discoveries of specific genetic susceptibilities with clinical observations. As we move forward, we should continue to incorporate these and additional clinical observations with new data on the physiology and genetics of diabetes to assess which patients will benefit most from specific treatments,"
In order to further understand the heterogeneity of diabetes and achieve the goal of customized therapies, the statement contains the following recommendations:
Extend analysis of existing data and data sources – The vast data as well as data sources available which can be potentially valuable in individualized therapy, but has been unutilized till date would be further used for advancement of the therapy structure.
Expand existing or develop new data registries - All new and existing diabetes registries ought to systematically collect data to address phenotypic and genetic heterogeneity measures.
Develop new clinical trials - Future randomized studies of diabetes therapies should, by design, collect phenotypic information relevant to response to therapy.
Develop new technologies - Targeting therapy toward more appropriate subgroups of patients will require increasingly accurate and efficient methods to measure markers for diabetes heterogeneity and heterogeneous response to treatment.
Expand basic research - Basic research is needed to explore numerous fundamental issues that underlie the heterogeneous response to diabetes therapies.
