The perfect gift for Filipino diabetics this Yuletide season

Christmas gives us many reasons to celebrate.

Aside from the traditional commemoration of the birth of Christ for Catholics, the holidays would be the time for festivities, merry-making, as well as sumptuous feasts and a lot of good cheers.

For individuals suffering from diabetes however, the Christmas season signals the start of a dilemma. How, indeed, could one resist gastronomic temptations like hams, lechon, steaks, wines and other classic Pinoy favorites during this time of the year?

Local pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca however brings the perfect gift for the Filipino diabetics.

FDA approval

In a recent briefing, AstraZeneca shared that its oral anti-diabetic drug, saxagliptin, has already been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use as a combination therapy with insulin (with or without metformin) to improve blood sugar control in adult patients with Type 2 diabetes.

According to AstraZeneca, the approval was based on new Phase 3b data, which showed that saxagliptin 5 mg added to insulin significantly reduced blood sugar levels at 24 weeks and maintained these reductions over 52 weeks.

“This latest approval reinforces saxagliptin as a leading therapy to help people with Type 2 diabetes better manage the disease,” noted Amal Kelshikar, president of AstraZeneca Philippines.

Welcome news

Dr. Chinnie L. Tan, the firm’s medical director, added that the new data on saxagliptin in combination with insulin and the subsequent regulatory approval is certainly welcome news for doctors and patients. “Since many patients with Type 2 diabetes may eventually require insulin, it is important that oral anti-diabetic treatments can be safely and effectively used in combination with insulin to help patients reach their treatment goals,” Tan explained.

Launched by AstraZeneca in the Philippines in July 2010, saxagliptin belongs to a novel class of oral anti-diabetes drugs called DPP-4 inhibitors.

DPP-4, the company said, is an enzyme that negatively affects blood sugar control by inactivating natural hormones in the body called incretin.

Incretins decrease elevated blood sugar (glucose) by increasing the body’s utilization of sugar, mainly by increasing insulin production in the pancreas and reducing the liver’s production of glucose.

Metabolism disorder

Considered a serious, lifelong disease, diabetes (diabetes mellitus) is a disorder of metabolism, or the way our body uses the food we eat for growth and energy.

Diabetes, according to Tan, is associated with long-term complications that affect almost every part of the body. This is why it is necessary for a person afflicted with such condition to receive proper treatment and management of the disease.

If left untreated, diabetes may lead to blindness, heart and blood vessel disease, stroke, kidney failure, amputations and nerve damage.

Last year, diabetes has affected an estimated 285 million people ages 20-79 worldwide, and that number is expected to increase to 438 million by 2030. The prevalence of diabetes in adults worldwide is expected to grow from 7 percent in 2010 to 8.4 percent in 2030.

In the Philippines, the prevalence of diabetes is 4.8 percent based on the 2008 National Nutrition Health Survey, which translates for some 5 million Filipinos having the disease.

Last year, global health expenditures to treat and prevent diabetes and its complications totaled an estimated $376 billion and is expected to rise to more than $490 billion in 2030.