Tag Archives: pioglitazone

Pioglitazone May Prevent Dementia

Posted on December 5, 2014 | Comments Off on Pioglitazone May Prevent Dementia

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Pioglitazone (aka Actos) is a type 2 diabetes drug in the TZD class. You could call it an “insulin sensitizer.” A recent report out of Germany suggests that pioglitazone prevents dementia, but it’s not a very strong linkage. If it works, I wonder if it’s simply related to better control of blood sugar, which could be accomplished with a variety of means. 

The best popular press report I’ve seen is at Bloomberg.

German researchers went fishing for associations in a huge database of patients and drug usage. Their formal report hasn’t even been published yet. A five-year study was recently initiated to further investigate the possibility that piogoitazone prevents dementia. I doubt this will pan out.

Steve Parker, M.D.

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Posted in Dementia, Diabetes Complications

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Will Your Diabetes Drug Cause Bladder Cancer?

Posted on July 9, 2012 | Comments Off on Will Your Diabetes Drug Cause Bladder Cancer?

MedPage Today reports that thiazolidinediones (aka glitazones) are linked to development of bladder cancer.  Pioglitazone is the most commonly used thiazolidinedione in the U.S.  From the article:

The increased risk of bladder cancer associated with glitazones—which reached a relative increase of 72% in patients who started on the agents more than 5 years earlier—”appears to be a class effect,” the research team, led by Ronac Mamtani, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, concluded.

According to the National Cancer Institute, the U.S. has 74,000 new cases of bladder cancer yearly, with 15,000 annual deaths from bladder cancer.

If you take a thiazolidinedione, talk to your doctor about bladder cancer risk at your next visit.

Steve Parker, M.D.

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Posted in Drugs for Diabetes

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