Diabetes

NEW YORK — Such mood disorders as anxiety and depression may be a precursor to diabetes in Latinos, according to a study by University of California at San Diego researchers scheduled for presentation at the American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting in Honolulu.

As reported in the Los Angeles Times, the researchers found that while Latinos have higher-than-average rates of diabetes, they also seem to have higher-than-average risk of having both diabetes and a mood disorder.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Researchers at the University of Alabama in Birmingham found that controlling fat intake could help cut one's risk of developing diabetes.

To examine this, researchers divided 69 overweight nondiabetics, who were at risk for the disease, into two groups, placing the subjects on a diet with modest reductions in either fat or carbohydrate for eight weeks. The lower fat group received a diet comprised of 27% fat and 55% carbohydrate; the lower carbohydrate group's diet was 39% fat and 43% carbohydrate.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — A controversial GlaxoSmithKline drug for treating Type 2 diabetes no longer will be available through retail pharmacies as of Nov. 18, the Food and Drug Administration announced Wednesday.

PARSIPPANY, N.J. — Global spending on medicines will reach nearly $1.1 trillion by 2015, according to a new study by market research firm IMS Health.

DEARBORN, Mich. — Ford Motor on Wednesday announced its research partnership with WellDoc — a healthcare company that develops technology solutions to improve chronic disease management outcomes and reduce healthcare costs — around integrating WellDoc services into Ford vehicles through the automaker’s SYNC voice-activated in-car connectivity system.

That SYNC system also will enable access to SDI’s Pollen.com Allergy Alert application, Ford announced Wednesday.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Cancer drugs are expected to see sharp increases in spending and use by 2013, according to the latest drug trend report by pharmacy benefit manager Medco Health Solutions.

The overall drug trend for 2010 was 3.7%, lowered by higher rates of generic drug dispensing; more than 71% of drugs dispensed were generics. Specialty drugs, mostly branded biologics, accounted for 70.1% of the overall drug trend, with especially strong growth in cancer drugs, whose drug trend reached 21.2%.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — A Food and Drug Administration panel will discuss findings in a clinical trial that has raised concerns about the safety and efficacy of Abbott's cholesterol-lowering drug when it’s combined with similar drugs, according to an FDA announcement.

SAN DIEGO — Amylin Pharmaceuticals filed suit against Eli Lilly in federal court Monday concerning an agreement between the latter and German drug maker Boehringer Ingelheim to develop drugs for diabetes.

In a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, Amylin said Lilly engaged in unlawful and anticompetitive activity in its development and commercialization agreement with BI for Tradjenta (linagliptin), an orally administered Type 2 diabetes drug that the Food and Drug Administration recently approved.