Byetta and Longevity... Small Hope, Big Promises?

In an article in the New York Times, it was reported that Byetta, an injectable drug to treat type 2 diabetes, may also prolong the lives of people who use it. This is according to findings in the ACCORD Trial, which is a major, ongoing trial, following over 10,000 people with type 2 diabetes.

Many times, with studies this large, researchers are able to notice trends and results from many different variables, and this is what has happened with the Byetta findings.

As stated in the N.Y. Times article, the chance of dying in people who took Byetta was 75% lower than people who didn't. This is good news, right? But what often happens with these kinds of headlines is that it turns out that the study is so small that the results really are inconclusive and need to be studied further.

In this quote from the article, the author clarifies the finding, "Neither Eli Lilly or Amylin, the companies that jointly market Byetta, is publicizing the findings, in part because no one is sure whether the reduction in the death rate is real or a chance finding. Only about 825 patients in the 10,000-patient Accord trial took Byetta, and those who did were likelier to be healthier than other patients."

So, it's certainly good news that Byetta seems to have an effect on length of life, but the reality is that a lot more study is needed, with a larger group of people, to see if the results are actually true.

The New York Times article does present all the information accurately and doesn't inflate the importance of the Byetta findings. But, that's not always the case in the media. Sometimes headlines are blown out of proportion, especially with study results that could affect the lives of millions of people.

How do you feel about the reporting of study results? Do you think that big headlines about small findings give an accurate picture of study results? Or do you think that they mislead the diabetic community and give false hope?

Post your comments here...

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