Bayer examines Glucobay in CV prevention

Germany's Bayer HealthCare AG, part of the Bayer group, says that it has initiated a trial designed to examine its oral antidiabetic agent Glucobay (acarbose) in the prevention of recurrent cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes in patients with CVD and prediabetes. The program was announced at the 2nd International Congress on Prediabetes and Metabolic Syndrome, in Barcelona, Spain.

The trial, which is being sponsored by Bayer Schering Pharma, will have a radomized, placebo-controlled design, and will seek to recruit around 7,500 individuals with CVD and prediabetes from 150 specialist research centers in China and Hong Kong. Participants will receive the drug, or placebo, for a minimum of four years in addition to optimized CVD management. The co-primary endpoints are the effect of treatment on the occurrence of cardiovascular events and the onset of type 2 diabetes.

The firm anticipates that the data from the study will support and extend those from the previously-completed STOP-NIDDM program, which revealed that the drug cut the risk of progressing to type 2 diabetes 36%, as well as lowering the risk of a first CV event 49%.