Diabetes

Los Angeles has one of the highest diabetes-related amputation rates in the country. Yet vascular surgeon Dr. George Andros can't seem to draw enough attention to the problem, which has skyrocketed not just here but nationally. "It's not sexy," he acknowledges. "Who cares about diabetic feet? It has no sizzle." Over the last 15 years, the U.S. rate of foot amputations from complications of diabetes has soared, approaching 100,000 annually, according to studies and government statistics.

Contradicting unexpected findings released last week by American researchers, an Australian team Wednesday said it found no evidence that aggressive treatment of diabetes in patients with heart disease increased their risk of death. Physicians and patients were shocked by last week's announcement because it seemed to contradict a long-held tenet of diabetes treatment: that reducing blood glucose levels as much as possible improves health.

Eli Lilly & Co. said Friday that it would terminate development of an inhaled insulin treatment for diabetes, which it was conducting in partnership with Alkermes Inc., after deciding that the product's potential for commercial success wasn't strong enough. Lilly's decision marks the third setback in recent months for inhaled insulin formulations, once deemed potential blockbuster products because of their greater convenience than standard injectable insulin. Cambridge, Mass.

With the zeal of a young entrepreneur, 82-year-old Los Angeles billionaire and philanthropist Alfred Mann has bet nearly half of his estimated $2.2-billion fortune that he can develop an inhaled version of insulin for the nation's 5 million diabetics. But Mann's gamble is looking increasingly like a long shot, analysts and doctors say, and his huge personal investment may be in jeopardy. The latest blow came Wednesday when Valencia-based MannKind Corp.'

The nation's obesity epidemic is exacting a heavy toll: The rate of new diabetes cases nearly doubled in the United States in the last 10 years, the government said Thursday. The highest rates were in the South, according to the first state-by-state review of new diagnoses. Worst was West Virginia, where about 13 in 1,000 adults were diagnosed with the disease in 2005-07. Best was Minnesota, where it was 5 in 1,000.

The announcement by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and AstraZeneca on Thursday that they will share the risks and rewards of developing two diabetes drugs highlights how expensive and precarious the route to product approval can be. By joining forces, the companies lower the financial risks of drug development at a time when numerous high-profile products haven't proved effective in late-stage clinical trials. Under the deal, AstraZeneca will pay as much as $1.

Howard Steinberg produces a television program that has all the elements of a typical variety show. There are profiles of famous people, reports on current issues and an attractive host, a former Miss America. But the independently produced show, which airs weekly as paid programming on CNBC, stands on a single theme. It is all about, and for, diabetics -- and believed to be the only television show built around a specific disease.

Patients with Type 2 diabetes are more likely to develop Parkinson's disease, although the reasons are unclear, Finnish researchers have reported. They found that people with Type 2 diabetes were 83% more likely to be diagnosed with Parkinson's later in life than people in the general population. This risk was independent of other risk factors. "Diabetes might increase the risk of Parkinson's disease partly through excess body weight," the researchers wrote in the April issue of Diabetes Care.

Three out of every 5 patients with Type 2 diabetes suffer from at least one significant complication of the disease, such as heart disease, stroke, eye damage, chronic kidney disease or foot problems leading to amputation, researchers said Tuesday. One out of every 10 has two complications, 1 out of 15 has three and 1 out of 13 has four or more.

Researchers have demonstrated for the first time that the progression of Type 1 diabetes can be halted -- and possibly reversed -- by a stem-cell transplant that preserves the body's diminishing ability to make insulin, according to a study published today. The experimental therapy eliminated the need for insulin injections for months or even years in 14 of 15 patients recently diagnosed with the disease.