Diabetes drug warning has doctors on alert

Following on from diabetes news yesterday, the warning added to type 2 diabetes drug Byetta has many doctors practising caution when it comes to prescribing the drug. Diabetes news claims that doctors will tell patients to be on the alert.
Byetta is an effective and widely used diabetes drug that is recommended when people with diabetes are struggling to control their blood glucose levels. The US Food and Drug Administration recently added a warning label regarding kidney problems to the packaging of the diabetes drug .
Dr. Anoop Misra, the head of the Diabetes and Metabolic Disease department of Fortis Hospitals was reported as commenting: “Byetta (exenatide) remains a useful new drug for diabetes, especially in obese patients, in whom it leads to weight loss and better sugar control. These new observations of kidneys getting affected must be rare in India. However, since this drug may lead to nausea, vomiting, and thus lead to decreased fluid intake, it may cause deterioration of kidney function in those with pre-existing kidney problems.”