Rosiglitazone: rosy news for a thiazolidinedione

Thiazolidinediones are known to increase insulin sensitivity and to be useful in the treatment of Type 2 diabetes. Recently, other important benefits of the thiazolidinediones have emerged. One of the thiazolidinediones (rosiglitazone) has been shown to prevent the progression from a pre-diabetic state to diabetes. In subjects with impaired fasting glucose or impaired glucose tolerance, the diabetic rate over 3 years was 25.0% in the placebo group and 11.6% in the rosiglitazone group. Another recent clinical trial with rosiglitazone has shown that it reduced microalbuminuria and blood pressure independently of glycaemia in subjects with Type 2 diabetes and microalbuminuria. After 32 weeks, there was a 22.7% reduction in the urine albumin:creatinine ratio with rosiglitazone.