ADA: Day 4

David Mendosa Living With It Medical Journalist Living with Diabetes and Author of Fitness and Photography for Fun, www.mendosa.com/fitnessblog After earning a B.A. with honors from the University of California,... Send Message Subscribe: David Mendosa

Monday, June 09, 2008
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San Francisco -- Some numbers that the American Diabetes Association told me today can give you a sense of the scale of its meeting here at San Francisco's Moscone Center. Its 68th Scientific Sessions started Friday and ends tomorrow. The ADA's press office says that so far they have counted 15,63...

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ADA and GLP-2
Ballot
Tuesday, June 10, 2008 at 11:20 AM

Thank you David for your balanced and thoughtful response to the present battle between large Pharms concerning GLP-2 look alikes. I think your response that it will all benefit the person with diabetes is the most important insight out of these battles. I wish we could have some clarity on when Byetta LAR will be available. I know this will be a major advance for all of us. John

GLP-1
Rob
Tuesday, June 10, 2008 at 01:55 PM

David - could you address the question sometime regarding GLP-1s versus insulin. I got pretty good results from OTC insulin, when my Internist refused to consider me diabetic after two sessions of retinopathy. Opth. very strongly encouraged me to get to normal BGs. It worked. What are the circumstances in which GLPs are better than, or should be taken along with insulin? Thanks

re: GLP-1
David Mendosa
Tuesday, June 10, 2008 at 02:05 PM

Dear Rob,

Taking Byetta with insulin has not been approved by the FDA. It is considered an "off-label use," which doctors at their discretion can prescribe. And some do.

Regarding GLP-1s, namely Byetta, the only one available yet, versus insulin, note that it's a choice only for type 2s. While I know at least one doctor who prescribes it for type 1s, it is also an off-label use. While Byetta may help regenerate beta cells, since type 1 is an auto-immune disease, the body would just kill them off again.

The other point regarding Byetta v. insulin is that Byetta faciliates weight loss. Insulin shots, on the other hand, leads to considerable weight gain. Both, however, lead to better blood glucose control.

David