Durgaprasad M. Kabade1, Anand Koppad2, Ameet Khatawkar3, Savitri D. Kabade4, Afaq Ahmed5
OBJECTIVES
Diabetes is fast gaining the status of a potential epidemic globally. The number of people with diabetes has risen from 108 million in 1980 to 422 million in 2014, the rise seen more rapidly in developing and under developed countries. Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) being the most common type, accounting for an estimated 85-95% of all diabetes cases. Diabetes remains a major cause of blindness, renal failure, and cardiovascular events including heart attacks, stroke and limb amputations.1 Being an heterogeneous disorder, many adults with T2DM have difficulty controlling their blood sugar levels and associated complications as most of available antidiabetic agents aim to achieve only normoglycaemia and relieve diabetes symptoms, such as polydipsia, polyuria, weight loss, ketoacidosis while the longterm goals to prevent the development of or slow the progression of longterm complications of the disease is often unaddressed, therefore, there remains, a significant unmet demand for new agents that will help diabetic patients achieve treatment targets without increasing the risk for weight gain or hypoglycaemia. Among the new classes of oral agents, SGLT-2 inhibitors and mTOT insulin sensitisers appear to hold some good promise. However, recent articles published describing its adverse effect profile of SGLT-2 inhibitors had put a question mark on its utility. In this article, we have reviewed the plethora of available OHAs along with the newer OHAs for managing T2DM optimally.
