Drugs for the Treatment of Type II Diabetes: A Visit to the Past and a Look to the Future
Raissa Alves da Conceição, Paula Nogueira da Silva, Maria Letícia de Castro Barbosa · Revista Virtual de Química · 2017
Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic syndrome characterized by high blood glucose levels (hyperglycemia).Currently, type II diabetes accounts for around 90-95% of total cases, and peripheral insulin resistance is considered the onset of this disease.Due to the exponential growth of the main risk factors, including obesity, bad eating habits, sedentary lifestyle and population ageing, the statistic data indicate the existence of a global epidemic of type II diabetes, with unpleasant future predictions.Once type II diabetes is a chronic systemic disease with slow progression, there is an urgent demand for effective and safety medicines, appropriate for continuous use.This review details the evolution of antidiabetic drugs available in the pharmaceutical market, indicating the progress made so far and the challenges for the future.