Drugs in Context Endocrinology welcomes a broad range of article types including original research, study protocols and review articles.
In line with the principle of providing context for healthcare professionals (HCPs) to properly inform and improve disease management in real world medicine, we especially encourage the submission of articles that provide context for trials of drug interventions in order to motivate improvements in disease management by HCPs practising medicine in the front line.
Original Research
This article reports on the case of a young papillary thyroid cancer patient, pretreated with three other kinase inhibitors, who achieved a long-term clinical benefit from lenvatinib in the fourth-line setting.
Review
This paper summarizes the results from the ground-breaking EMPA-REG OUTCOME study and discusses their significance and clinical implications.
Case Report
Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) management is complex, with few patients successfully achieving recommended glycemic targets with monotherapy, most progressing to combination therapy, and many eventually requiring insulin. Sodium glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors are an emerging class of antidiabetes agents with an insulin-independent mechanism of action, making them suitable for use in combination with any other class of antidiabetes agents, including insulin. In this review the evaluates a 78-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled trial investigating the impact of empagliflozin, an SGLT2 inhibitor, as add-on to basal insulin in patients with inadequate glycemic control on basal insulin, with or without metformin and/or a sulfonylurea.
Review
Once changes in lifestyle have failed, treatment for gestational diabetes mellitus remains a matter of debate. In this article the authors review the evidence for glyburide and metformin, and discuss the role of insulin. Also, recommendations for postpartum screening and how to manage patients who are breastfeeding are described.
Review
Many of the agents used to treat type 2 diabetes have undesirable adverse effects of hypoglycemia and weight gain. Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists represent a unique approach to the treatment of diabetes. In this article the authors discuss the various GLP-1 receptor agonists available on the market, specifically focusing on their relative efficacy, safety, and clinical differences as well as their potential benefits in addition to glucose lowering in type 2 diabetes, and describe the adverse effects and toxicities seen with these agents.