|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Diabetes & Metabolism
In the United States 16 million people - nearly six percent of the population - have diabetes. The MMRF is researching new drug therapies, new technology and creative treatment plans for patients with diabetes and obesity. MMRF researchers were the first in the world to use a modem in conjunction with an insulin pump, allowing a teenager from northern Minnesota to manage her diabetes without making the 300 mile drive to the Hennepin Center For Diabetes & Metabolism. In 1997, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began to see heart-valve problems in a number of patients who were using appetite suppressants. MMRF researcher Mehmood Khan, M.D., had kept detailed data on his patients who were using the drugs which he promptly relayed to the FDA. This information was instrumental in the removal of two diet drugs, fen-phen and Redux, from the market. One year after the drugs were pulled from the market, a new study by Dr. Khan confirmed that long-term use of the drugs is linked to heart valve problems. The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that 23 percent of those who had eceived the diet drugs had heart valve abnormalities, compared with one percent among a similar group of overweight people who did not use the drugs. MMRF will continue, through research, to participate in medical advances for diabetes and obesity that affect the health of not only the HCMC Community, but the worldwide community as well.
|
||
