The Hindu Business Line : International diabetes study includes seven Indian sites

Does Sanofi-Aventis' hypertension drug Ramipril work better than GlaxosmithKline's insulin sensitiser Rosiglitazone in preventing or delaying the development of diabetes? Or do the two drugs work well together in preventing the progress of diabetes?

An international study, Dream or Diabetes Reduction Assessment, has undertaken this head-to-head comparison of the two drugs done at several centres including seven sites in India, at Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune. Details were, however, not available.

The five-year study covered over 5,000 people across the different centres. One set was given only Rosiglitazone, the other only Ramipril, one group was given both drugs and the fourth group was given a placebo (an inactive pill, liquid or powder that has no treatment value), said Dr Giancarlo Francesco Viberti, Professor of Diabetes and Metabolic Medicine at GKT School of Medicine, King's College, University of London.

Though he is not involved with the dream project, Dr Viberti told Business Line that he is familiar with its details, being a researcher with another diabetes-related international project called Adopt. Dream is co-ordinated by the Canadian Cardiovascular Collaboration (CCC) at McMaster University in Canada. The study is jointly funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Aventis Pharma, King Pharmaceuticals and GlaxosmithKline, according to data from Dream site.

Risk assessment

Medication usually reduces the incidence in a risk population by about 30-35 per cent. The study will try to assess how much the risk can be reduced by these drugs or whether they work better in combination, he said. The study has been recently concluded and its findings will be publicised at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes in Copenhagen in September.

Meanwhile, Dr Viberti is co-chairman of the Adopt project, where the comparative efficacy of rosiglitazone, metformin and sulfonylurea is assessed on people recently diagnosed with type II diabetes. This study, however, did not touch India and was done in centres out of the US and Europe, he said. More than 4,000 people participated in the trial, he added.

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