SUCCOUR might have come the way of both type 2 diabetic and hypertensive patients in the country, who have to cope with the challenges of multi-drug therapy and their attendant side effects.The succour, according to experts, is not unconnected with the launch of Novatis' Galvus/GalvusMet and ExforgeHCT drugs, for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and hypertension in that order, both of which are further on the rise globally.Chairing the launch of the products in Lagos, Prof. Augustine Ohwovoriole said that both diabetes and hypertension have assumed an epidemic proportion, but they can be prevented with good diet, lifestyle and improved treatment.He noted that diabetes is the fourth leading cause of death in most developing nations. 'A world without diabetes might be impossible, but the scourge can be minimised. Another way of prevention is to treat the patients well. Currently, we are seeing diabetic patients with complications like stroke, bad foot etc, which are signs that we are not doing enough.'We are glad that there is so much that medical science is doing in the area of research, one which is the novel products, but we still need to do more for our people in the area of improved treatment,' he said.Most worrisome for the experts is that controlling blood sugar levels is difficult even among patients receiving treatment and more than half of patients with type 2 diabetes currently taking medication are still not reaching their blood level goal.Senior Medical Adviser, Novartis Pharma Services, Dr. Obiyo Nwaiwu observed that treatment of type 2 diabetes goes beyond affordability and accessibility. According to him, studies have shown that success rate globally is poor, due to fear of weight gain and hypoglycaemia that accounts for patient's poor compliance to medication.'Basically we produce Galvus, to address some of the existing gaps in the existing anti-diabetic drugs, both in mechanism of action and safety. DPP-4 inhibitor, Galvus (vildagliptin) works through a novel mechanism of action by targeting the dysfunction in the pancreatic islets that cause high sugar level in people with type 2 diabetes. Islet dysfunction, along with insulin resistance is a contributing factor to type 2 diabetes progressive disease in which control of blood sugar deteriorate over time.'Blood sugar is very high in diabetes and often poorly controlled by existing drugs. When you gain weight, it is not good for the heart and some of these drugs caused weight gain, when they reduce their blood sugar, but Galvus does not cause weight gain,' he said.Associate Professor of Medicine at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Jane Ajuluchukwu added that hypertension also remains the commonest non-communicable disease globally, ranging from 69 per cent in Poland to the lowest of 3.4 per cent in rural India.Statistics show that about one billion of the world population have hypertension, a figure that could double by 2030.Novartis Country Head, Vera Nwanze said that the worrisome trend has led Novartis to source for remedy from medical research.'Recent guidelines advocates for multiple drug therapy and more importantly fixed-dose combination for target BP goal, to maximise the reduction in long term risk of cardiovascular disease and death,' she said.
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