The safest diabetic drug

Which is the safest drug for diabetes?

All diabetics would like to know which is the safest drug for them. Now there is research showing that diabetic patients who are treated with sulfonylurea drugs other than metformin have a significantly higher mortality.

Glipizide, glimepiride and glyburide were recently compared to metformin in patients with coronary artery disease. The safest drug was metformin and all experts agree that today it should be the first line drug prescribed for type 2 diabetics.

Until recently, all diabetic drugs were all felt to be similar in effectiveness and safety. But now this research reveals otherwise. Metformin is now available as a generic, is very affordable, and is an excellent drug for blood glucose control. However, in patients with coronary disease, glimepiride may be the preferred drug.

Overall, glipizide and glimepiride are preferred over glyburide, but metformin should be the drug of choice in most type 2 diabetics. The other benefit of metformin is that it induces weight loss. The drug has been around for 80 years and withstood the test of time. Remember, none of the newer anti-diabetic drugs is as effective as metformin.