Research suggests antioxidant effective against diabetes

LONDON According to the May 24 issue of The Lancet, a new antioxidant drug, succinobucol, has shown the ability to prevent and treat diabetes. Researchers also say that more research on possible cardiovascular risks is needed before it is widely used.

Succinobucol is a chemical relative of probucol, a cholesterol-lowering drug taken off the market in the United States in 1995 because of side effects. In addition to its antioxidant effects, succinobucol also reduces inflammation.

The trial included 6,144 people, 37 percent of whom had diabetes and all of whom had been hospitalized for a heart attack or the dangerous heart rhythm problem called unstable angina. For two years, half of the participants took succinobucol daily, while the other half took a placebo. All were taking other drugs, such as cholesterol-lowering statins, beta blockers or ACE inhibitors.

Among the participants who did not have diabetes when the study began, 4.2 percent of those not taking succinobucol developed the disease, compared to 1.64 percent of those taking the drug, a 64 percent risk reduction. For those with diabetes, taking succinobucol provided better blood sugar control than not taking the drug.

Atrial fibrillation, a dangerous heartbeat abnormality, was twice as likely to develop during the trial in those taking succinobucol. There was no difference in the incidence of death, cardiac arrest, heart attack, stroke or other cardiovascular endpoints between those taking or not taking the drug.

“The study results need confirmation before it is used widely, because there was no effect on those clinical endpoints,” said study author Jean-Claude Tardif, director of the research center at the Montreal Heart Institute in Canada. “But that is true of all the drugs now used in diabetes. There is no evidence that they reduce heart attacks and strokes.”