Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Diabetes

HOME reveals new data on a cornerstone of treatment

A question often asked by health-care providers is whether metformin has added benefits if continued after patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus switch to insulin. Beneficial effects on macrovascular end points observed in response to sustained metformin therapy argue in favor of this approach, according to new research from The Netherlands.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Nathan, D. M. et al. Medical management of hyperglycemia in type 2 diabetes mellitus: a consensus algorithm for the initiation and adjustment of therapy. A consensus statement of the American Diabetes Association and the European Association for the Study of Diabetes. Diabetes Care 32, 193–203 (2009).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  2. Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes Study Group. Effects of intensive glucose lowering in type 2 diabetes. N. Engl. J. Med. 358, 2545–2559 (2008).

  3. ADVANCE Collaborative Group. Intensive blood glucose control and vascular outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes. N. Engl. J. Med. 358, 2560–2572 (2008).

  4. Duckworth, W. et al. Glucose control and vascular complications in veterans with type 2 diabetes. N. Engl. J. Med. 360, 129–139 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Kooy, A. et al. Long-term effects of metformin on metabolism and microvascular and macrovascular disease in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Arch. Intern. Med. 169, 616–625 (2009).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Wulffelé, M. G. et al. Combination of insulin and metformin in the treatment of type 2 diabetes. Diabetes Care 25, 2133–2140 (2002).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. [No authors listed]. Intensive blood-glucose control with sulphonylureas or insulin compared with conventional treatment and risk of complications in patients with type 2 diabetes (UKPDS 33). UK Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS) Group. Lancet 352, 837–853 (1998).

  8. Evans, R. M., Barish, G. D. & Wang, Y. U. PPARs and the complex journey to obesity. Nat. Med. 10, 355–361 (2004).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Wang, Y., Beydoun, M. A., Liang, L., Caballero, B. & Kumanyika, S. K. Will all Americans become overweight or obese? Estimating the progression and cost of the US obesity epidemic. Obesity (Silver Spring) 16, 2323–2330 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to William T. Cefalu.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares associations with the following companies: Amylin (consultant; grant/research support), Eli Lilly (consultant; grant/research support), Halozyme (consultant), Johnson & Johnson (consultant; grant/research support), and Merck (consultant; grant/research support).

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Cefalu, W. HOME reveals new data on a cornerstone of treatment. Nat Rev Endocrinol 5, 478–479 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2009.154

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2009.154

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing