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        Uncontrolled blood sugar leads to complications. Dia-betes is not a disease but a disorder. It might be hereditary combined with environmental triggering factor.

        In case of type 1 diabetes there is absolutely no secretion of insulin by the pancreas whereas in type 2 certain amount of insulin is produced and it is relative insulin deficiency, Dr V Balaji, MD, general medicine, Fellowship in Diabetology [Sweden], Consultant Diabetologist, Apollo Hospital explains.

        'We need a medicine that helps our body work as it normally should to help control blood glucose, and that should be easy to use because one shouldn't have to adjust his/her dosage based on the size of his/her meal or how much he/she exercises.'

        Hence, there arises increased demand for treatment options.

        The incidence of diabetes is increasing at an alarming rate across the world. Along with the prevalence of obesity and longer lifespan, the number of people with type 2 diabetes — which results from the body's inability to make enough or properly use insulin — is growing. At the same time, the need for alternative and novel therapies to treat the array of metabolic abnormalities resulting from and associated with type 2 diabetes has increased.

        While diet and exercise are the foundation of treating type 2 diabetes, oral medications are often required to adequately control blood sugar. Oral medications may be used alone or in combination. As diabetes progresses and the oral agents can no longer control patients' glucose levels, insulin may be added in an effort to maintain control.

        There arose an opportunity for a new approach for treating type 2 diabetes: exenatide, which is being investigated as the first treatment in a new class of diabetes drugs known as incretin mimetics. After years of research and planning, exenatide was approved for use in the United States.

        Exenatide is the first in a new class of drugs for the treatment of type 2 diabetes called incretin mimetics and exhibits many of the same effects as the human incretin hormone glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1). GLP-1, secreted in response to food intake has multiple effects on the stomach, liver, pancreas and brain that work in concert to regulate blood sugar.

        Byetta (exenatide injection), a new therapy for type 2 diabetes has been developed.

        It is an injectable medicine used to improve glucose (blood sugar) control in adults with type 2 diabetes. It can be used with metformin, a sulfonylurea or a thiazolidinedione.

        It is unique and works in a different way than pills or insulin. By helping your body produce the right amount of insulin at the right time, Byetta helps take the guesswork out of type 2 diabetes. Besides, it helps reduce some of the highs and lows associated with managing blood glucose (blood sugar).

        It is no insulin and not a substitute for insulin also. Rather it helps your body make more of its own insulin.

        Byetta should be injected twice a day, at any time within the 60 minutes before your morning and evening meals and never should be taken after a meal.

        It is a small protein and must be injected. Like all proteins, if the medicines were to be taken by mouth the stomach would break it down and render ineffective.

        When it is introduced in India it would be a boon to the Type 2 diabetic patients, the doctor said.