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A post hoc analysis of 5 clinical trials of liraglutide suggests that it was significantly better than active comparators on a composite end point of glycated hemoglobin less than 7% without hypoglycemia or weight gain, reported French investigators.

Fructose is the sugar consumers love to hate. It gets the blame for obesity, metabolic syndrome, and a variety of dietary ills. But according to at least one expert, the fructose content in high-fructose corn syrup just isn't that high.

In patients with type 2 diabetes, treatment with exenatide once weekly for 1 year results in sustained improvements in glycemic control, body weight, cardiovascular risk markers, and markers of hepatic injury, according to a pooled analysis of 2 large clinical trials.

An ancillary study to the ARIC (Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities) study supports the most recent (2010) ADA risk categories of glycated hemoglobin in identifying future risk of developing diabetes and macrovascular and microvascular disease.

Dietary choices can have a discernable effect on the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. That conclusion is based on analysis of men in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (HPFS), which followed 41,212 men for up to 20 years.

In clinical practice, exenatide is often started in patients with type 2 diabetes who are on insulin therapy, even though the prescribing information states that the concurrent use of exenatide with insulin has not been studied and cannot be recommended, according to analysis of a large nationwide database.

New data from Scotland suggest that drug regulators should change labeling on thiazolidinediones to warn of elevated risk for hip fractures in both men and women.

It was billed as a debate, but played as a mild disagreement. Should new diabetes drugs submitted to the FDA have a higher bar for cardiovascular safety than other drugs?

New data suggest that although diabetes doubles the risk of vascular disease, elevated fasting glucose has little effect on the risk of coronary heart disease or major ischemic events.

Patients who are not well controlled on metformin may get better control of glycated hemoglobin levels and weight using once-weekly exenatide than by titrating insulin glargine.

Liraglutide is more successful in reducing glycated hemoglobin levels to 7% or less regardless of baseline glycated hemoglobin level compared with sitagliptin in adults with type 2 diabetes, said Melanie Davies, MD, MB ChB, professor of diabetes medicine, University of Leicester, United Kingdom.

Patients treated over long periods with the diabetes drug metformin (Glucophage, Bristol-Myers Squibb) are at risk of developing vitamin-B12 deficiency, according to a study published in the British Medical Journal, Reuters has reported.

FDA is investigating hundreds of consumer complaints involving children's medicines recalled by Johnson & Johnson on April 30, according to a congressional memo, the Associated Press reported.

Pharmacists are the most trusted source for medical research information, according to a recent survey.

Walgreens and CVS Caremark have signed a multi-year contract to keep Walgreens in the Caremark pharmacy network, resolving recent issues between the drugstore chains, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The American Medical Association (AMA) has responded favorably to concerns expressed in April by the American Pharmacists Association and six other pharmacy associations.

Pharmacists Planning Service, Inc. is calling for papers for its 17th International Public Health & Pharmacy Issues Conference aboard Royal Caribbean's Adventure of the Seas.

Patients whose doctors over-prescribe antibiotics may develop drug resistance that can last up to a year, putting them and others at risk when more serious treatment is needed, according to a study published in May in the British Medical Journal.

The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) will present the latest in pharmacy education, case studies, and real-world, business-oriented information for the independent community-pharmacy industry at its 112th Annual Convention and Trade Exposition taking place at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia Oct. 23 to 27.

FDA notified consumers and healthcare professionals that a product represented as "Generic Tamiflu" being sold on the Internet does not contain Tamiflu's active ingredient, oseltamivir, but cloxacillin, an ingredient in the same class of antibiotics as penicillin.

FDA last month launched "FDA Drug Info Rounds," a new educational video series for pharmacists.

FDA will provide access to its health information for consumers through a collaboration with Drugs.com, which will post the information at its website and on its mobile phone platform.

FDA announced that it will release risk summaries about medicines approved after September 2007 and post them quarterly to a publicly accessible website, Reuters reported.

FDA has informed four consumer genomics services providers and Illumina that it believes the firms are selling unapproved diagnostic devices, according to a report published by the GenomeWeb Daily News.

CVS Caremark and Generation Health announced 13 drug therapies that will be included in the initial offering of their integrated Genetic Benefit Management service.

FDA has cleared Simplexa Influenza A H1N1 (2009), a test for the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus in patients with signs and symptoms of respiratory infection.

In 2009, the drug trend for children, a measure of prescription-spending growth, increased 10.8%, driven by a 5% increase in drug utilization and higher medication costs, according to the Medco "2010 Drug Trend Report."

Which drugs were most popular in 2009? Check out Drug Topics' list of the Top 200 generic drugs in 2009, ranked by total prescriptions.