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Show . i VA Studies May Replace Insulin With 'Daily Pill' Hopes that the diabetic can substitute a pill and swallow of water for his daily insulin shot may be realized. Effectiveness of two of the new antidiabetic "pills" will be tested by the Veterans Administration in a large-scale cooperative study, the agency has announced. The project, just getting under way at eight VA hospitals, is aimed at learning to what extent these drugs given by mouth can replace daily insulin injections on a long-term basis for persons with' diabetes. The compounds are tolbutamide, the first widely used antidiabetic tablet, and chlorpropamide, which became generally available to doctors doc-tors about two months ago. Some 400 VA patients will re ceive the medication twice daily at 12-hour intervals for a minimum mini-mum of eight months. Dr. Edward Dunner, chief of the VA clinical studies division in Washington, D. C, said although I much has been, learned about the early results of administration of ! the compounds, more information I is needed about their effects over a considerable period of time. , The National Institutes of Health are represented in the study by a member on the executive execu-tive committee for the project. NJH also will perform special laboratory lab-oratory tests for the research. . |
