VIENNA – Although several new oral hypoglycemic drug classes have entered formularies over the past 5 years or so, none has supplanted insulin as a linchpin for managing patients with type 2 diabetes who fail to achieve adequate glycemic control with diet, exercise, and metformin treatment, Dr. David M. Nathan said in an interview during the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes.
Physicians should keep in mind that insulin remains a “powerful and important drug” for type 2 patients, said Dr. Nathan, chief of diabetes at Massachusetts General Hospital and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, both in Boston. Even though insulin’s price has risen recently, it is still a bargain, compared with the new drugs, he added.
Dr. Nathan said he had no relevant financial disclosures.