Diabetes clinical trial recruiting patients

College of Osteopathic Medicine looking for
patients newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes

Researchers at the Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine (OU-COM) are recruiting local type 2 diabetes patients for a clinical trial. The trial will look at the benefits of short-term intensive insulin therapy on long-term diabetes management.

Diabetes is a chronic disease of the pancreas, which secretes insulin to manage blood sugar, also called glucose. In type 2 diabetes, the most common form of diabetes, the pancreas eventually loses its ability to secrete insulin in response to meals.

“Recent studies have shown that intensive insulin treatment at the onset of type 2 diabetes can prevent pancreatic failure early in the disease, leading to long-term control of glucose and reducing the need for costly treatment measures down the road,” said Jay Shubrook, D.O., the primary investigator on the trial.

In a previous case series (recently accepted in the journal Insulin), Shubrook administered 12 weeks of intensive insulin therapy to newly diagnosed diabetes patients. Since then, the patients have benefited from stable glucose levels for up to two and a half years – with no medication. Normally, Shubrook said, a type 2 diabetes patient starts with one medication to control glucose levels and has to increase his or her medications over time to keep glucose in control.

In Appalachian Ohio, more than 11 percent of the population has diabetes, compared to the national rate of eight percent, as reported by the Ohio Department of Health. The department estimates that an additional 30,000 Appalachian Ohio residents may have diabetes but are not diagnosed.

The physician researchers at OU-COM are looking for adults who have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes within the past six months and who do not have congestive heart failure, renal failure, or nephrotic syndrome.

Trial participants will receive free medical visits and laboratory testing, medication and testing supplies for one year, in addition to payments for each visit they attend and the opportunity to gain control of their diabetes.

To sign up or to receive more information, call 1-877-762-3888.

For media interviews with Dr. Shubrook, contact Richard Heck at 740-593-0896.