Drug may reduce cardiovascular risk in type 2 diabetics

The drug fenofibrate has shown promise to reduce the risk of heart disease among some type 2 diabetes patients. More specifically, fenofibrate was shown to be effective in those diabetics who had high triglyceride levels and low HDL (good) cholesterol levels despite taking statins.

Fenofibrate is commonly used to reduce triglyceride count, but the researchers were curious to see whether combining this drug with statins could reduce the risk of heart disease among type 2 diabetes patients. It is well known that type 2 diabetics are at a higher risk for heart disease and other cardiovascular events.
The researchers followed 4,640 participants and found fenofibrate to be effective in lowering the risk of heart disease among type 2 diabetics. Additional clinical trials are required to confirm the results, but researchers are hopeful that fenofibrate will one day become a standard treatment in reducing heart disease risk among type 2 diabetics.