Oral Hypoglycemic Agents

9. Oral Hypoglycemic Agents

Often, oral medication is given to diabetics instead of insulin to control the symptoms. It is said that some sulfonylureas lower the blood glucose levels when given orally. These include tolbutamide, chloropropamide, acetohexamide and tolazamide. The University Group Diabetes Program attempted to evaluate various types of therapy, in noninsulin-dependent diabetic patients, comparing tolbutamide or phenformin treatment with diet alone. They concluded that these two drugs were no more effective in controlling diabetes than diet alone.

There has been some evidence that the use of these drugs increases cardiovascular mortality but this has not been proven conclusively and more research needs to be done. However, acute toxic effects have been known to follow the use of these oral hypoglycemic agents. There is no doubt that these agents are poisons and should not be employed.