Title:An Insight into the Combat Strategies for the Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes
Mellitus
Volume: 24
Issue: 4
Author(s): Gita Chawla*, Tathagata Pradhan and Ojasvi Gupta
Affiliation:
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, School of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, Jamia Hamdard,
Hamdard Nagar, New Delhi, 110062, India
Keywords:
Diabetes, T2DM, treatment, antihyperglycemic agent, antidiabetic drug targets, novel drug targets
Abstract: Diabetes is a chronic, and metabolic disorder that has gained epidemic proportions in the
past few decades creating a threat throughout the globe. It is characterized by increased glucose levels
that may be due to immune-mediated disorders (T1DM), insulin resistance or inability to produce
sufficient insulin by β-pancreatic cells (T2DM), gestational, or an increasingly sedentary lifestyle.
The progression of the disease is marked by several pathological changes in the body like
nephropathy, retinopathy, and various cardiovascular complications. Treatment options for T1DM
are majorly focused on insulin replacement therapy. While T2DM is generally treated through oral
hypoglycemics that include metformin, sulfonylureas, thiazolidinediones, meglitinides, incretins,
SGLT-2 inhibitors, and amylin antagonists. Multidrug therapy is often recommended when patients
are found incompliant with the first-line therapy. Despite the considerable therapeutic benefits of
these oral hypoglycemics, there lie greater side effects (weight variation, upset stomach, skin rashes,
and risk of hepatic disease), and limitations including short half-life, frequent dosing, and differential
bioavailability which inspires the researchers to pursue novel drug targets and small molecules
having promising clinical efficacy posing minimum side-effects. This review summarizes some of
the current emerging novel approaches along with the conventional drug targets to treat type 2 diabetes.