New weekly diabetes drug more efficient than daily treatment

A once-a-week injectable diabetes drug appears to lower blood sugar somewhat better than the same drug injected twice daily, creating promise that the new formulation may be a more useful part of a Type 2 diabetes control regime, a new study suggests.

The drug, exenatide, also has the advantage of triggering modest weight loss - an average of just over 3.5 kilograms - in people taking it, making it the only available diabetes drug to do so. While some diabetes drugs are "weight neutral," most cause weight gain, which can complicate diabetes control and undermine a person's willingness to take their medication.

Dr. David Nathan, director of the Diabetes Centre at Massachusetts General Hospital, noted a large-gauge needle is needed to give the once-a-week shot - a fact that would deter some patients.

And he suggested the once-a-week formulation has both pros and cons. The thought of 13 fewer shots a week would appeal to many patients. But medication taken weekly is easier to forget.

"When you do something once a day, it becomes a habit," Nathan said, referring to insulin, an alternative to this drug which requires once-a-day injection. "When you do something once a week and you forget it for a week, that's a problem."