The DREAM (Diabetes REduction Assessment with ramipril and rosiglitazone Medication) trial demonstrated that GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK, LON: GSK)’s Avandia® (rosiglitazone maleate) reduced the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 62 percent compared to placebo in individuals at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
The said 62% reduction was found to be highly significant (p<0.0001) in addition to standard counseling on healthy eating and exercise.
According to Dr. Bernard Zinman, DREAM Steering Committee Member, director of the Diabetes Centre, Mount Sinai Hospital and professor of medicine, University of Toronto, Canada:
"The DREAM findings are particularly significant as we are in the midst of an epidemic of type 2 diabetes with global implications. It is also noteworthy that the damaging complications of type 2 diabetes can often precede the diagnosis of this condition by several years.
By demonstrating that rosiglitazone significantly reduced the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, these data provide important evidence that it may be possible to alter the course of rising blood sugar levels and its consequences."
The DREAM trial is the largest completed diabetes-prevention trial to date providing the first body of evidence that rosiglitazone is able to reduce the risk of progression from pre-diabetes to type 2 diabetes in high-risk patients.
While there are currently no drugs or medications indicated for the treatment of pre-diabetes, rosiglitazone is an approved treatment for type 2 diabetes that improves blood sugar control.
Rosiglitazone is an insulin sensitizer that works differently than other classes of type 2 diabetes medications by directly targeting insulin resistance, a key underlying cause of type-2 diabetes.
In the DREAM trial, rosiglitazone was generally well tolerated and adverse effects are no significantly different relative to placebo.
These results have been reported September 15 both at The Lancet and at the 42nd annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD).
Find more details from the press release.
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