Comparison of Oral Diabetic Drugs

Of the ten oral diabetic drugs compared in this John Hopkins study, metformin (Glucophage, Riomet or Fortamet) was the over all winner in almost all areas except the digestive category. However for those who suffer from kidney or heart problems this drug (metformin) is contraindicated.

This study is in the July 16th on line edition of the journal, Annals of Internal Medicine.
A summary of this study can be found at Eureka Alert at: http://www.eurekalert.org/pubnews.php?start=100

Some of the areas showing a favorable comparison were:
Ability to lower blood glucose
Less likely to cause weight gain
Ability to lower LDL (bad cholesterol)
Cost (some of the other drugs were as much as 4 times more expensive.)

Thiazolidimediones did show an advantage over metformin in causing a small increase in the good cholesterol (HDL) and also in its ability to keep the blood level from getting too low.