Therapy of Diabetes Mellitus with Combinations of Drugs Given Orally

Abstract

THE advances in biochemistry of the past decade have revealed that the defects in carbohydrate metabolism in diabetes involve several distinct areas in hepatic metabolism, together with a defect in transport of glucose into peripheral muscle.¹ This has prepared for the possibility of correction of one or more of these, separately or together, by pharmacologic agents simpler in structure than insulin and capable of absorption by the gastrointestinal tract.The recently introduced hypoglycemic agents for oral administration fit this description. They are of two classes, the sulfonylureas (tolbutamide† and chlorpropamide‡)^{1 , 2} and the diguanides (phenethyldiguanide§).^{1 , 3} The sulfonylureas stimulate the . . .