What medication is available for diabetes?



There are two main types. People can treat type 1 diabetes with insulin injections and need careful diet and activity planning to avoid complications of treatment.
A person can control type 2 diabetes with lifestyle measures, oral medication, and also insulin if other treatments are not successful.


Medications for type 1 diabetes



Treatment for type 1 diabetes always involves insulin. This replaces absent insulin and keeps blood sugar levels under control.

People can self-inject insulin under the skin, or, if hospitalized, a doctor might inject insulin directly into the blood. It is also available as a powder that people can breathe in.


There are several different types of insulin.


Rapid-acting injections   take effect within 5 to 15 minutes but last for a shorter time of 3 to 5 hours:

  • insulin lispro (Humalog)
  • insulin aspart (NovoLog)
  • insulin glulisine (Apidra)

Short-acting injections take effect from between 30 minutes and 1 hour, and last for 6 to 8 hours:

  • regular insulin (Humulin R and Novolin R)

Long-acting injections take effect after 1 or 2 hours and last for between 14 and 24 hours:


  • insulin glargine (Toujeo)
  • insulin detemir (Levemir)


Other drugs for type 1 diabetes

Doctors sometimes prescribe metformin for some people with type 1, but it is a drug mainly for use in type 2 diabetes. The following drugs, non-insulin injectables, are also common for people treating type 1 diabetes:


  • Incretin mimetics are drugs that mimic the hormone incretin, which stimulates insulin release after meals. These include exenatide (Byetta, Bydureon), liraglutide (Victoza), and dulaglutide (Trulicity).
  • Amylin analogs: Pramlintide (Symlin) mimics another hormone, amylin, that is involved in glucose regulation.
  • Glucagon is used to reverse blood sugar levels when they fall too low as a result of insulin treatment.


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