Advances in pharmacotherapy of type 2 diabetes [part-3: the gliptins]

Type 2 diabetes is witnessing major advances in pharmacotherapy. After a rather dormant period spanning the period from 1960s to the 1990's following the discovery of the sulphonylurea and biguanide groups of drugs in the 1950's, significant advances have been achieved in discovering new drugs. This has been possible because of the advances in biotechnology. In this part of the series of reviews we will be looking at the second group of the incretin-based therapies. These gliptins which include several agents, namely sitagliptin, vildagliptin and saxagliptin, with others still in development. The other group of the incretin-based agents the incretin mimetics have been discussed in more details in the previous issue of this journal