Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
Diabetes Bites Newsletter

TRIVIA TIME!


Last month, we asked you to identify the diabetes medication that generated the most sales (just over $5.5 billion) last year. 

ANSWER:  JANUVIA. 

Januvia belongs to a class of drugs called DPP4 inhibitors.  It is an oral medication that helps increase levels of a hormone called glucagon-like-peptide (GLP), which in turn helps slow digestion, blunt appetite, block glucagon production and enhance the pancreas’ ability to secrete insulin.  It is approved/indicated for people with type-2 diabetes.

Interestingly, many people thought metformin (an oral medication that reduces the liver’s production of glucose) was the correct answer.  Metformin is the most widely prescribed medication for diabetes, but because it is available in an inexpensive generic form, its sales are far less than Januvia’s.  And the insulin with the greatest sales last year (Lantus) came up a few billion dollars short of Januvia.

Congratulations to Ryan Shick, a Philadelphian with type-1 diabetes for 23 years (and soon to be DIY Loop user) for being the first with the correct answer!

NEW QUESTION for APRIL:

Let’s get away from pharmacology for a moment and test your knowledge of geography.  IDS has been serving the diabetes community worldwide via remote/virtual means since the year 2003.  We’ve worked with people from all 50 US states and several dozen countries.

CAN YOU NAME ONE OF THE NATIONS THAT WE HAVE YET TO SERVE?


*The first person to submit the correct answer wins their choice of book from our in-store or online bookstore.