Combo of Paxil, Pravachol may raise the sugar in the blood

 taken in combination, two drugs commonly prescribed antidepressant Paxil and the cholesterol-lowering Pravachol drugs seem increases significantly the blood glucose, a new study concludes.

The increase is more apparent - and for - in the diabetic whose blood sugar is already too high, the researchers noted.

"This interaction may affect up to 1 million Americans who would be on these two drugs and who get a bump in their blood glucose may be unnecessary," said researcher principal Dr. Russ Altman, Professor of biological, genetic engineering and medicine at Stanford University.

It is possible that the blood sugar spike triggered a diagnosis of diabetes type 2 patients, Altman said, "and we could avoid this diagnosis if they had not been on these drugs", he said. "This is speculative, but it is possible."

No single drug raises sugar in the blood and the researchers said they cannot yet explain the effect of the combination. Also, combinations of other antidepressants and cholesterol not stimulate glucose levels. "This is not what we would call a"class"effect", Altman explained.

Paxil (paroxetine) is in a class of drugs known as inhibitors of the reuptake of serotonin (SSRIS) and Pravachol (Pravastatin) belongs to a group of drugs called statins. "We looked at all the other pairs of SSRIS and Statins and there were a couple who has shown a small bump in glucose, but there is nothing to do with the humpback seen Paxil and Pravachol," Altman said.

For the study, published online may 25 in clinical and therapeutic Pharmacology, researchers have used a technique called data mining, analysis of large databases in the hope of finding information which, although not immediately obviousis gleaned by combining the data in a new way.

In this case, team Altman used the data from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Adverse Event Reporting System, more data from the universities of Harvard, Stanford and Vanderbilt to identify the associations would not apparent doctors dealing with individual patients.

Using this method, researchers have identified 135 non-diabetic patients taking both drugs whose blood sugar increased of 19 milligrams per deciliter after the start of treatment. They have also identified 104 diabetic whose blood sugar increased an average of 48 mg/dl while taking the two drugs.

With levels of sugar in the blood of 126 mg/dl or two tests are considered diabetic. Levels of 100 mg/dl to 125 mg/dl are considered prédiabétiques.

By extrapolating these results to the whole of the population of the United States, the Altman team believes that of 33 million people taking Paxil or Pravachol, 500 000 to 1 million hold together.

To verify whether their conclusions were simply associations which could be explained by other factors, researchers have experimented with drugs in mice.

The mice were exposed to two drugs after receiving a diet rich in fat, high calorie to pre-diabetic. No single drug has increased sugar in the blood, together they have increased sugar in the blood of about 128 mg/dl to 193 mg/dl, the researchers found.

"It was just like humans in our data base, said Altman." So, this seems to be a real biological effect. "This could give us an overview of the mechanisms of diabetes."

Altman warns that people taking this drug combination should not respond.

He has said "people on an antidepressant should not mess with because depression is a very serious illness". It would be reasonable to see a doctor and see if your blood glucose have been difficult to control, he said. He said "if it was, then I think the thing to change would be the Statin,".

Dr. Ronald b. Goldberg, Professor of medicine at the Institute for research of diabetes at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, said that it was "" an interesting conclusion and could be clinically important. ""

"People with diabetes have an increased risk of depression." they are all recommended to be on Statins, "said Goldberg. "Then, it can worsen glycemic control in diabetic people."

But Goldberg thinks that it is too early to change clinical practice based on this study only. "This must be confirmed in a clinical trial," he said.

Combo of Paxil, Pravachol may raise the sugar in the blood (HealthDay)

 taken in combination, two drugs commonly prescribed antidepressant Paxil and the cholesterol-lowering Pravachol drugs seem increases significantly the blood glucose, a new study concludes.

The increase is more apparent - and for - in the diabetic whose blood sugar is already too high, the researchers noted.

"This interaction may affect up to 1 million Americans who would be on these two drugs and who get a bump in their blood glucose may be unnecessary," said researcher principal Dr. Russ Altman, Professor of biological, genetic engineering and medicine at Stanford University.

It is possible that the blood sugar spike triggered a diagnosis of diabetes type 2 patients, Altman said, "and we could avoid this diagnosis if they had not been on these drugs", he said. "This is speculative, but it is possible."

No single drug raises sugar in the blood and the researchers said they cannot yet explain the effect of the combination. Also, combinations of other antidepressants and cholesterol not stimulate glucose levels. "This is not what we would call a"class"effect", Altman explained.

Paxil (paroxetine) is in a class of drugs known as inhibitors of the reuptake of serotonin (SSRIS) and Pravachol (Pravastatin) belongs to a group of drugs called statins. "We looked at all the other pairs of SSRIS and Statins and there were a couple who has shown a small bump in glucose, but there is nothing to do with the humpback seen Paxil and Pravachol," Altman said.

For the study, published online may 25 in clinical and therapeutic Pharmacology, researchers have used a technique called data mining, analysis of large databases in the hope of finding information which, although not immediately obviousis gleaned by combining the data in a new way.

In this case, team Altman used the data from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Adverse Event Reporting System, more data from the universities of Harvard, Stanford and Vanderbilt to identify the associations would not apparent doctors dealing with individual patients.

Using this method, researchers have identified 135 non-diabetic patients taking both drugs whose blood sugar increased of 19 milligrams per deciliter after the start of treatment. They have also identified 104 diabetic whose blood sugar increased an average of 48 mg/dl while taking the two drugs.

With levels of sugar in the blood of 126 mg/dl or two tests are considered diabetic. Levels of 100 mg/dl to 125 mg/dl are considered prédiabétiques.

By extrapolating these results to the whole of the population of the United States, the Altman team believes that of 33 million people taking Paxil or Pravachol, 500 000 to 1 million hold together.

To verify whether their conclusions were simply associations which could be explained by other factors, researchers have experimented with drugs in mice.

The mice were exposed to two drugs after receiving a diet rich in fat, high calorie to pre-diabetic. No single drug has increased sugar in the blood, together they have increased sugar in the blood of about 128 mg/dl to 193 mg/dl, the researchers found.

"It was just like humans in our data base, said Altman." So, this seems to be a real biological effect. "This could give us an overview of the mechanisms of diabetes."

Altman warns that people taking this drug combination should not respond.

He has said "people on an antidepressant should not mess with because depression is a very serious illness". It would be reasonable to see a doctor and see if your blood glucose have been difficult to control, he said. He said "if it was, then I think the thing to change would be the Statin,".

Dr. Ronald b. Goldberg, Professor of medicine at the Institute for research of diabetes at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, said that it was "" an interesting conclusion and could be clinically important. ""

"People with diabetes have an increased risk of depression." they are all recommended to be on Statins, "said Goldberg. "Then, it can worsen glycemic control in diabetic people."

But Goldberg thinks that it is too early to change clinical practice based on this study only. "This must be confirmed in a clinical trial," he said.

Chemo Combo may help prevent Cancer of the pancreas mortality

A diagram of four deadly pancreatic cancer chemotherapy drugs has almost doubled compared to standard chemotherapy of the duration of survival of patients, a new study suggests.

In the late trials, French researchers divided a group of 342 patients with advanced PANCREATIC ADENOCARCINOMA, the most common disease, in two groups form. Gemcitabine half received the standard treatment, while the rest received FOLFIRINOX, a combination of four drugs of Oxaliplatin, irinotecan, leucovorin and fluorouracil.

Time of median survival improved 6.8 months for group gemcitabine 11.1 months in the FOLFIRINOX group, according to the study, which is published in the May 12 of the New England Journal of Medicine. The Group of the combination made suffer more side effects of treatment, however.

"Explain us to patients the benefits and the toxicity of these two patterns,", said Dr. Thierry Conroy, Professor of the University of Nancy-medical oncology and Center Alexis Vautrin in Nancy (France), author of the study. "The FOLFIRINOX schema has managed to stabilize patients longer with the best quality of life and delay of degradation of the quality of life." Unfortunately, it is still a treatment palliative but capable of recording months and sometimes years of life. ?

PANCREATIC ADENOCARCINOMA was the fourth leading cause of death from cancer of the United States in 2010, the study said, and the 5-year survival rate is only 6 per cent in the United States and in Europe.

Participants in the study, whose average age was 61, were still fully active and able to carry out daily activities, and more ill patients were not eligible. The trial was conducted in 15 centers in France the second phase of the trial and extended to 48 centres during the third phase of the trial.

Patients stop study at their request, or if they have experienced unacceptable toxic effects - which included diarrhea, blood cell counts and neuropathy - or evidence of the progression of the disease. A patient in each group died of causes related to the treatment, and 273 of 342 patients had died at the end of the median follow-up period of 26 months.

Dr. Alberto Montero, Professor Assistant of medicine at Sylvester Comprehensive Care Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, said that the results were "notable" because the FOLFIRINOX group has experienced an improvement in survival rate.

Montero warned, however, that a small minority of patients with PANCREATIC ADENOCARCINOMA corresponds to the State of the patients in the study even conducting normal daily activities. Even newly diagnosed patients are often very sick, he said and would not be able to tolerate the toxic effects of drugs in the combination.

"To see a doubling of survival is impressive," said Montero, also a medical oncologist. "" "". For many reasons, this cancer is highly resistant to chemotherapy. I think that this trial is a first step. ?