Metformin is a well-liked prescription drug that’s used as a first-line remedy for kind 2 diabetes. It’s additionally an energetic ingredient in lots of two- and three-ingredient mixture medicine for diabetes.
Mixture medicine for individuals with kind 2 diabetes usually pair metformin with one other drug that has a distinct motion within the physique, thereby permitting for a number of strategies of decreasing blood glucose ranges.
This text will examine using metformin mixture medicine for kind 2 diabetes and can reply some frequent questions you may need about mixture medicine.
Key Factors:
- Sure metformin mixture medicine have been proven to extra successfully scale back HbA1c ranges (a measure of glucose management over the earlier 2 to three months) in comparison with metformin alone, with some additionally demonstrating cardiovascular advantages.
- Whereas metformin mixture medicine supply efficient blood glucose administration, personalised medical recommendation is essential. A healthcare supplier should consider if these medicine are appropriate for you, contemplating your distinctive well being profile and the potential unwanted side effects of the mixed drugs.
What are mixture medicine?
Mixture medicine are extra complicated than two separate drugs individually.
These medicine mix no less than two totally different energetic components into one prescription, with every drugs in a particular, predetermined ratio. Every of the 2 (or extra) medicine has a singular mechanism of motion, which means it has its personal set of results on the physique.
Mixture medicine could also be authorised for a number of causes, together with that there could also be a synergistic impact — which means that the impact of the 2 medicine when mixed is healthier than it might be if the 2 medicine had been taken individually.
Mixture medicine might also be simpler for individuals to handle, as a result of the variety of drugs they need to take is diminished, and there are not any separate necessities for an individual to maintain observe of a number of drugs.
Mixture medicine, formally recognized by the U.S. Meals and Drug Administration (FDA) as “fixed-dose mixture medicine” (or FDCs), first started coming to market in vital numbers within the Eighties in america and actually accelerated in recognition by way of the mid-Nineties.
What’s the finest mixture with metformin?
Simply by itself, metformin is available in many manufacturers and is taken day by day as an oral capsule, usually a couple of times every day.
Metformin helps to handle blood sugar ranges by reducing the quantity of glucose the liver produces, decreasing the quantity of glucose absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract, and lowering insulin resistance (a situation during which the physique doesn’t use insulin effectively). It will possibly even assist with weight reduction.
Nevertheless, metformin isn’t at all times sufficiently efficient by itself. In these circumstances, a healthcare supplier could suggest including a second treatment to the remedy routine.
That is usually within the type of a fixed-dose mixture drug.
Medical doctors contemplate many components when figuring out which metformin mixture drug will finest assist an individual with the administration of their kind 2 diabetes. It might be essential to strive multiple mixture drug earlier than discovering the one which finest meets your blood sugar and different well being targets whereas minimizing unwanted side effects.
Medicines that mix metformin with SGLT-2 inhibitors (a category of kind 2 diabetes medicine first authorised in 2013) are each generally prescribed and are backed by stable proof.
These mixture medicine, which embody pairings with empagliflozin (model names Synjardy and Synjardy XR), dapagliflozin (Xigduo XR), and ertugliflozin (Segluromet), work by serving to the kidneys to excrete extra glucose by way of the urine, which reduces total blood glucose ranges.
Metformin and SGLT2 mixture medicine have been proven to supply a bigger HbA1c discount than simply metformin alone, and a medical trial of over 600 individuals with kind 2 diabetes additionally indicated among the medicines on this class of mixture medicine scale back the danger of coronary heart assault and different severe cardiovascular incidents when in comparison with taking metformin by itself.
Different less-common mixture medicine which were proven to be extremely efficient in reducing HbA1c ranges are “triple mixture therapies” that embody metformin plus a DPP-4 inhibitor and a sulfonylurea (two extra lessons of kind 2 diabetes treatment).
Small-scale trials with this triple mixture drug yielded vital HbA1c enhancements. Subsequent triple-combination trials utilizing different energetic components have proven broader effectiveness for bigger teams of individuals with kind 2 diabetes.
In large-scale trials, triple mixture medicine equivalent to Trijardy (which mixes empagliflozin, linagliptin, and metformin) have been proven to enhance HbA1c ranges by greater than 1.1% in comparison with taking metformin alone.
You will need to be aware that whereas triple mixture medicine (or some other form of mixture drug) may be an efficient method to assist handle blood sugar ranges, they aren’t proper for everybody.
A physician or different medical supplier will consider if these medicine are applicable for you and if the advantages outweigh any of the potential unwanted side effects.
Which antidiabetic medicine may be taken together with metformin?
There’s a distinction between what medicine may be taken on the similar time as metformin and what medicine may be taken as a mixture drug with metformin.
Metformin is mostly well-tolerated and may be taken with quite a few different medicine if prescribed by your physician. It’s at all times a good suggestion to inform your medical care group what pharmaceuticals you’re taking to ensure there are not any surprising interactions.
Although loads of different medicine may be taken concurrently metformin, there are solely a handful of metformin mixture medicine which were authorised.
Metformin mixture medicine checklist
FDA-approved metformin mixture medicine presently out there in america embody:
- ActoPlus Met (metformin and pioglitazone)
- ActoPlus Met XR* (metformin XR and pioglitazone)
- Avandamet (metformin and rosiglitazone)
- Glucovance (metformin and glyburide)
- Invokamet (metformin and canagliflozin)
- Invokamet XR (metformin XR and canagliflozin)
- Janumet (metformin and sitagliptin)
- Janumet XR (metformin XR and sitagliptin)
- Jentadueto (metformin and linagliptin)
- Jentadueto XR (metformin XR and linagliptin)
- Kazano (metformin and alogliptin)
- Kombiglyze XR (metformin XR and saxagliptin)
- Metformin and glipizide (generic variations solely)
- Qternment XR (metformin, saxagliptin, and dapagliflozin)
- Segluromet (metformin and ertugliflozin)
- Synjardy (metformin and empagliflozin)
- Synjardy XR (metformin XR and empagliflozin)
- Xigduo XR (metformin XR and dapagliflozin)
- Trijardy XR (metformin XR, empagliflozin, and linagliptin)
*All the medicine listed above with “XR” embody an extended-release formulation of metformin, which many individuals discover helps them keep away from gastrointestinal unwanted side effects and sensitivity that’s frequent with standard-release metformin.
What are the primary advantages of metformin mixture medicine?
Utilizing a metformin combo drug as a substitute of a number of medicines individually can have quite a lot of advantages, together with:
- Improved effectiveness of the drugs
- A lower in unwanted side effects
- Fewer drugs to maintain observe of and a extra manageable remedy routine
- Decrease prescription prices
What’s subsequent if metformin isn’t sufficient to handle kind 2 diabetes?
It may be discouraging in case your blood sugar ranges stay elevated even after taking metformin and making dietary and way of life modifications.
Many individuals with kind 2 diabetes surprise what choices they’ve left if their blood sugar is out of vary even whereas taking metformin, or if it looks like metformin is dropping its effectiveness over time.
Study extra: Indicators Metformin Is Working (Or Isn’t Working)
As mentioned above, oftentimes a health care provider will prescribe a metformin mixture drug to enhance blood sugar management.
As a result of these medicine have totally different energetic components and totally different mechanisms of motion, they usually have “synergistic” results, bringing down your blood sugar greater than taking every drug individually would.
Mixture medicine are additionally thought of to be the perfect subsequent step after metformin remedy as a result of their unwanted side effects are properly understood and are usually much less severe than with different medicine.
A physician might also contemplate starting insulin remedy together with metformin.
Insulin is a hormone produced within the pancreas that helps transfer glucose from the blood into the physique’s cells for use for power.
Artificial insulin is often taken as an injection to complement the physique’s personal insulin (if any remains to be being produced). Insulin is available in many formulations, which broadly embody rapid-acting (bolus) insulin and long-acting (basal) insulin.
In kind 2 diabetes, insulin remedy tends to assist decrease blood sugar ranges extra shortly than different drugs, but it surely requires cautious administration and might include vital unwanted side effects, like severe low blood sugar (hypoglycemia), if you happen to take an excessive amount of insulin directly.
In case your common blood sugar ranges (as measured by an HbA1c check or long-term use of a steady glucose monitor [CGM]) don’t come down, and if you happen to’re already taking the utmost really helpful dose of metformin or a mixture drug, then your physician could contemplate insulin remedy.
If metformin alone simply isn’t sufficient to handle your blood sugar, it’s necessary to speak with a health care provider about different choices. Everybody’s wants, response to pharmaceuticals, and total medical historical past are totally different, so discussing the professionals and cons of various kinds of remedy together with your physician is a superb place to begin.
Study extra: The Greatest Alternate options to Metformin for Type 2 Diabetes Administration.
Incessantly requested questions
Mixture medicine are available a single capsule and are prescribed below a single prescription. They’ve been examined collectively and the doses of the 2 (or extra) energetic components have been calibrated to work collectively.
A mix drug combines two or extra energetic components right into a single capsule or dose. Mixture remedy makes use of two or extra totally different medicine to deal with a situation and it may additionally contain taking a number of drugs in several methods (e.g., taking a day by day metformin capsule, plus injectable semaglutide [Ozempic] or insulin).
Mixture remedy can even contain using medical units, equivalent to insulin pumps.
As a result of mixture medicine have fastened ratios of their energetic components, it could be harder to regulate the dosages than if you happen to had been taking metformin and the opposite drug as two separate drugs.
Moreover, as a result of every energetic ingredient additionally has its personal potential unwanted side effects, growing the variety of energetic components in a prescription drug usually can enhance the variety of undesirable unwanted side effects.
Pharmacists and docs usually advise that metformin is the most secure (and among the many most studied) drug for blood sugar administration for individuals with kind 2 diabetes. Nevertheless, many metformin mixture medicine even have glorious security profiles.
Nonetheless, it’s at all times necessary to debate remedy choices together with your physician to get individualized steerage.
Remaining ideas
Managing kind 2 diabetes successfully requires a personalized method, contemplating the distinctive well being wants and responses of every particular person. Metformin, as a cornerstone of diabetes remedy, gives vital advantages, significantly when mixed with different drugs.
These mixture medicine present a extra complete and synergistic method to blood glucose administration, usually main to higher outcomes than metformin alone.
Nevertheless, it’s necessary to do not forget that each remedy plan ought to be as distinctive as the person it serves. What works successfully for one particular person is probably not the only option for one more.
And whereas metformin mixture medicine have stable proof for controlling blood glucose ranges and promising outcomes concerning cardiovascular advantages, they aren’t with out their potential drawbacks. The issue of creating dosage changes and the potential unwanted side effects have to be fastidiously weighed in opposition to the advantages.
As with every medical remedy, ongoing dialogue with healthcare professionals and a dedication to non-public well being targets are key to discovering the best technique for managing kind 2 diabetes.
