Bayer announces new Glucobay trial

Bayer has announced the initiation of a new trial sponsored by Bayer Schering Pharma assessing the efficacy of Glucobav (acarbose) in preventing the contraction of type two diabetes and recurrent cardiovascular disease (CVD) in patients with prediabetes and CVD.

Speaking at the International Congress on Prediabetes and the Metabolic Syndrome in Spain, the company reported that the acarbose cardiovascular evaluation (Ace) study would involve 7,500 CVD patients with pre-diabetes in China and Hong Kong.

The firm expects to report results from the study in 2013, with the trial being co-chaired by Professor Rury Holman, University of Oxford Diabetes Trials Unit in the UK and Professor Pan Chang-Yu at the University of Beijing.

Dr Thorsten Petruschke, head of global scientific affairs management metabolism, said: “We hope to expand our knowledge of arcabose as an important treatment for the primary prevention of type two diabetes and a possible option for the secondary prevention of CVD through Ace.”

He added that at present, arcarbose is the only orally-administered anti-diabetes pharmaceutical that is approved to treat patients with prediabetes.

In July 2006, Bayer announced the purchase of diabetes care company Metrika, the producer of the A1CNow-plusd device for the testing of HbA1C blood sugar levels.