A Look Ahead

What the Future Holds for Communities Focused on Diabetes

July 14, 2010

Daniel M. Bradbury

As we look back at the 70th Annual ADA Scientific Sessions I can’t help but conclude that there has never been such a palpable sense of excitement about progress being made in treating the growing epidemics of diabetes and obesity.

As Harold Lebovitz observed in his recent posting for this Online Summit, the late-breaking sessions at ADA showcased not only the continued advancement of established classes of drugs like GLP-1 receptor agonists, but in new classes as well.  As a result, I predict that we will see a tremendous surge of innovation for patients in the years to come, reflecting the increasingly more sophisticated level of understanding in the scientific and clinical community about how to effectively tackle diabetes in all of its complexity.

As other contributors to this Online Summit have observed, however, making a meaningful dent in the growing epidemic of diabetes will require more than scientific and clinical innovation. As Marcea Lloyd wrote, we still have a tremendous amount of work to do to reduce the lingering healthcare disparities in the United States, which relegate African Americans, Latinos and Native Americans to far poorer outcomes than the rest of the population – even among those who are successfully identified as being at risk for diabetes. As Bill Polonsky reminded us, we must also factor in the difficulties that all humans have in self-managing a complex disease like diabetes. Developing a greater understanding of what works and what is more difficult at the patient level will also be critical if we are to make a difference.

These insights make the advances highlighted at ADA exciting.  In the near future, we will likely see the emergence of new treatment paradigms in diabetes, as therapies emerge that are not only safe and effective, but also provide patients with new ways of managing their disease and improving their treatment outcomes.  These include continued technology improvements (e.g., continuous glucose monitors, new insulin pumps), new combination therapies, and new therapeutic options that are dosed less frequently, or are less invasive.

Longer-term, we will see a renewed emphasis on treating patients earlier in the disease progression, as well as greater attention paid to approaches that are not only focused on controlling blood sugar, but on managing body weight and cardiovascular health.  We will also see continued research into the relationship between blood sugar, weight, lipids, and cardiovascular risk factors (such as high blood pressure). This increased understanding will yield new treatments that are able to tackle multiple factors.

On behalf of everyone at Amylin, I would like to thank the contributors to this Online Summit, who from their varied points of view, have helped us all understand the very real needs and tremendous opportunities in diabetes in a much more nuanced and multi-dimensional way. We look forward to continuing this important dialogue on behalf of all the patients who hope for better outcomes in diabetes management.

Dan Bradbury is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc.