Doctors hail new drug in fighting HK diabetes 'epidemic'

Local doctors have hailed the discovery of a drug that is more effective than exercise and dieting in reducing the chances of high-risk patients developing type 2 diabetes.

But they warn that despite the fact that 24 per cent of Hong Kong people have the precursor to the disease, the preventive drug will likely only be available to those willing to pay. About half of pre-diabetic patients progress to diabetes within four years.

According to findings of the largest diabetes-prevention study, published in The Lancet yesterday, the risk of someone with higher than normal blood sugar - a condition called pre-diabetes - developing type 2 diabetes falls 62 per cent if they take a maximum dose of 8mg per day of rosiglitazone over a period of three years.

The double-blind study of 5,269 pre-diabetic patients in 21 countries also found that 70 per cent of patients managed to get their blood-sugar levels back to normal after taking the drug, which raises the body's sensitivity to insulin. Its only side effects were slight bloating and 2kg to 3kg weight gain.

'We are in the midst of an epidemic of type 2 diabetes in Hong Kong. The disease used to affect people in their 40s but now many pediatricians are diagnosing children with it,' said Francis Chow, head of diabetes and endocrinology at Chinese University.

'More than half the patients we deal with have no idea they have pre-diabetes. We should attack diabetes at an earlier stage. Lifestyle changes work, but can people really keep up with the routine?'

Exercise and diet changes have been shown to reduce risks by 58 per cent in three years but if a person does not lose 7 per cent of their body weight, type 2 diabetes will strike within 10 years.