'Diabetes disaster' if cheaper drugs are prescribed
EXPERTS are warning of a “diabetes disaster” if guidelines to use cheaper and rarely used drugs get the go-ahead.
Doctors say the guidelines by the health regulatory body NICE to prescribe two medications with the standard metformin are “bonkers”.
One of the drugs has side-effects.
Doctors say the switch could lead to poorer health for people with Type 2 diabetes and could leave Britain with a financial burden.
“The guidelines, if enacted, will result in reduced quality of care for our patients,” said diabetes expert Professor Anthony Barnett.
Diabetes - The Facts
The guidelines, if enacted, will result in reduced quality of care for our patients
“There is a real recipe for disaster here.”
About 3.2 million Britons have diabetes, with 90 per cent suffering the Type 2 condition.
Metformin is the most common drug given for the condition but at least half the patients need another drug.
The new guidelines will push GPs to use pioglitazone and repaglinide, which is banned in France and not recommended in Germany.
A report in the British Journal of Diabetes and Vascular Disease accused the NICE draft guidelines of “serious failures of common sense”.
