Drug treatment of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in the 1990s - Achievements and future developments

Non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM, type 2 diabetes) is a heterogeneous disease resulting from a dynamic interaction between defects in insulin secretion and insulin action. There are various pharmacological approaches to improving glucose homeostasis, but those currently used in clinical practice either do not succeed in restoring normoglycaemia in most patients or fail after a variable period of time. For glycaemic regulation, 4 classes of drugs are currently available: sulphonylureas, biguanides (metformin), alpha-glucosidase inhibitors (acarbose) and insulin, each of which has a different mode and site of action. These standard pharmacological treatments may be used individually for certain types of patients, or may be combined in a stepwise fashion to provide more ideal glycaemic control for most patients. Adjunct treatments comprise a few pharmacological approaches which may help to improve glycaemic control by correcting some abnormalities frequently associated with NIDDM, such as obesity (serotoninergic anorectic agents) and hyperlipidaemia (benfluorex). There is intensive pharmaceutical research to find new drugs able to stimulate insulin secretion (new sulphonylurea or nonsulphonylurea derivatives, glucagonlike peptide-1), improve insulin action (thiazolidinediones, lipid interfering agents, glucagon antagonists, vanadium compounds) or reduce carbohydrate absorption (miglitol, amylin analogues, glucagon-like peptide-1). Further studies should demonstrate the superiority of these new compounds over the standard antidiabetic agents as well as their optimal mode of administration; alone or in combination with currently available drugs.