NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Glimepiride (Amaryl) appears to be safe and effective for treating type 2 diabetes in children and adolescents, and it reduces A1C levels, a measure of long-term blood sugar control, to a similar extent as the older drug metformin, researchers report in the journal Diabetes Care.

Dr. Michael Gottschalk of the University of California, San Diego Medical Center and colleagues note that although the safety of glimepiride is well documented in adults, there is less evidence available for younger patients.

To investigate further, the researchers randomly assigned 285 subjects who were an average of 14 years old to receive glimepiride once daily or metformin twice daily.

At 24-week follow-up, the two drugs had reduced A1C levels to a similar extent. In each group, just under half of the patients had achieved the goal A1C levels less than 7 percent.

The groups were also comparable in daily blood sugar and cholesterol levels. Patients in the glimepiride group, however, did gain more weight than those in the metformin group.

Weight gain is a known side effect of the "sulfonylurea" drug group that glimepiride belongs to, say the investigators, so this finding came as no surprise.

The results "indicate that glimepiride is safe and effective for use in the pediatric population," the researchers conclude, but also call for further studies.

SOURCE: Diabetes Care, April 2007.

REUTERS