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Feel the excitement!

Updated: 8/14/21 2:00 pmPublished: 2/28/07

It helps lower blood sugars after meals, but it makes some patients nauseous the first few months. Others, however, feel euphoric, experiencing a 'post-sex buzz.' The potential side effects of this prescription drug are, shall we say, conflicting. As our test drive column describes, we tried the drug ourselves. It's called Symlin, a synthetic derivative of the hormone amylin, which is secreted by the beta cells to control glucose levels. It's one of the most interesting new products in diabetes right now in our view, and we hope you'll read about our experience.

We're excited about our second issue of diaTribe, and we're grateful to readers for their feedback — please always feel free to let us know what stories appeal to you and what you want to see more of (write [email protected]). We believe diaTribe will give you the best information you need to care for diabetes, yours or a loved one's. We want to cut through the clutter to give you great information on new products and breakthrough research that can improve your life.

Back to the issue! Our learning curve story describes Merck's big-splash introduction of Januvia, the latest incretin product that helps the body secrete insulin and could pave the way for earlier, more aggressive therapies in type 2 diabetes because it seems easy to take. We have not one but two outstanding dialogues: one is with the new president of the JDRF, Arnold Donald, who gave us his first in-depth interview; the second is with top endocrinologist Dr. Irl Hirsch, who shares his incisive thoughts on new products and therapies. Dr. Hirsch's brother, James S. Hirsch, is our LogBook columnist, who writes a must-read story about the bigotry he encountered while doing a radio talk show in Iowa - seriously unbelievable. And I thought I was into intensive management - a profile on Phil Southerland and his beloved bike and team by dynamite blogger Amy Tenderich shows us one way to be supremely intensively managed. Finally, we traveled to Cape Town, South Africa last month to attend the International Diabetes Federation and we returned with the highlights in our conference pearls.

We have all that and much more. We hope you enjoy the issue and look forward to hearing from you.

-- Kelly L. Close

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