The U.S Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of Tanzeum (albiglutide) injection, along with proper diet and regular exercises, for people suffering from Type 2 diabetes.
"Tanzeum is a new treatment option for the millions of Americans living with type 2 diabetes," director of the Office of Drug Evaluation II in the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, Curtis Rosebraugh, M.D., M.P.H. said in a press release. "It can be used alone or added to existing treatment regimens to control blood sugar levels in the overall management of diabetes."
Tanzeum is classified as a glucagon-like-peptide receptor agonist, a hormone that aids in regulating a patient's blood sugar levels. The safety and effectiveness of this new drug were evaluated in eight clinical trials with more than 2,000 Type 2 diabetes patients. The trials showed that the use of the drug was responsible for an improvement in HbA1c levels (hemoglobin levels, a measure of a patient's blood sugar).
The new drug has also been studied in conjunction with other therapies for type 2 diabetes such as therapies using insulin, metformin, pioglitazone, and glimepiride. Tanzeum is only fit for people with Type 2 diabetes and should not be administered to those who have Type 1 diabetes.
The use of the medication for Type 2 diabetes comes with a warning explaining that in some trials involving rodent subjects, the subjects were observed to develop thyroid gland tumors. However, the studies did not find out whether the Tanzeum may give rise to thyroid C-cell tumors if it is given to humans. The drug is not recommended to be administered to patients diagnosed with or have a family history of Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia syndrome
Type 2 diabetes affects at least 24 million people across the globe. In the U.S, 90 percent of patients with diabetes are affected with Type 2 diabetes. If left untreated, the high levels of blood sugar may cause other complications such as heart disease, nerve damage, and blindness.
