Diabetes drug ‘could save thousands of lives’

A NEW study shows a cholesterol-lowering drug dramatically reduces the risk of stroke and heart disease in diabetes sufferers and could save thousands of lives if prescribed earlier.

At a prestigious medical conference in America last weekend a team of Irish and British researchers presented findings that show the drug Lipitor halves the incidence of stroke and reduces cardiovascular problems by over a third in type II diabetics.

The study is the first to examine cholesterol-lowering in diabetes patients without existing cardiovascular disease or high cholesterol. The findings have major implications for over 140,000 patients.

The researchers have called for the drug, known generically as atorvastatin, to be prescribed to patients when first diagnosed with diabetes.

The drug is not licensed for the prevention of coronary or cardiovascular problems and is prescribed only to lower elevated cholesterol.

Professor of Genetic Epidemiology at UCD Helen Colhoun, and co-author of the study, said doctors should now consider all of their patients with diabetes for this therapy.

“What we’ve shown is up to now it’s been fairly well accepted that if you have high cholesterol and type II diabetes you need to have this cholesterol-lowering therapy,” Prof Colhoun said.

“The patients we studied don’t have high cholesterol. A very important message is you don’t have to have high cholesterol to benefit from this drug,” she added.

Type II diabetes is a cardiovascular condition associated with a two to fourfold increase risk of heart disease or stroke. The World Health Organisation estimates there are 87,000 people in Ireland with diagnosed type II diabetes, and this could rise to as many as 140,000 by 2010.

Over a third of people with this type of diabetes are unaware of their condition, Professor Colhoun said.

“It’s a major problem in Ireland. The overwhelming reason for this is the increase in obesity we are seeing,” she said.

The researchers insist more widespread use of the drug could cut the time patients spend in hospital as a result of diabetes. Every patient with type II diabetes occupies one bed day in hospital per year on average as a result of cardiovascular disease.

“This major study showed taking a fairly low dose of this drug in patients who don’t already have a history of heart disease or stroke can substantially reduce their risk of developing them,” Prof Colhoun added.

The landmark study was a collaboration between the Department of Health, Diabetes UK and Pfizer.