Double Dipping

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Anchor lead: What are the issues in using drugs for
diabetes in other conditions? Elizabeth Tracey reports

October 15, 2019 Perhaps you’ve heard of the diabetes drug metformin being used for weight loss, or the diabetes drug dapagliflozin in heart failure. Such uses are called off label, and while they may be helpful, Rita Kalyani, a diabetes expert at Johns Hopkins, is concerned.

Kalyani: How do these glucose lowering medications, approved
for diabetes, affect glucose levels in those without diabetes? I wonder about
that group without diabetes and how low their sugars are really going. When we
talk about translating this into clinical practice whether its dapagliflozin or
metformin or any other diabetes drug that’s being used outside treatment for
glucose lowering I think we need to still be cognizant of the glucose lowering
effect and have ways that that can be monitored if they’re being used for
purposes besides diabetes.  :33

Kalyani would welcome studies that identify best ways to
monitor blood sugar in those without diabetes when diabetes drugs are used. At
Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.