title: Antidiabetic agents: past, present and future.
abstract: Treatment of diabetes mellitus requires, at a certain stage of its course, drug intervention. This article reviews the properties of available antidiabetic medications and highlights potential targets for developing newer and safer drugs. Antidiabetic agents are grouped in the article as parts I, II and III according to the history of development. Part I groups early developed drugs, during the 20th century, including insulin, sulfonylureas, the metiglinides, insulin sensitizers, biguanides and α-glucosidase inhibitors. Part II groups newer drugs developed during the early part of the 21st century, the past decade, including GLP-1 analogs, DPP-VI inhibitors, amylin analogs and SGLT2 inhibitors. Part III groups potential targets for future design of newer antidiabetic agents with less adverse effects than the currently available antidiabetic drugs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences School of Pharmacy, Boston MCPHS University (Formerly Massachusetts College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences) 179 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA. ahmed.mehanna@mcphs.edu
authors.forename: Ahmed
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mehanna
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000266:history; D055808:Drug Discovery / Q000266:history* / Q000379:methods*; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D058990:Molecular Targeted Therapy / Q000266:history / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents