Antidiabetic drugs for type 2 diabetes receive marketing authorization if they show efficacy in reducing levels of HbA(1c). However, efficacy on this biological criterion does not necessarily reflect clinical benefit to patients. Several randomized clinical trials have shown that antidiabetic drugs reduce HbA(1c) without a corresponding reduction in clinical events. This suggests a need to focus on the clinical effectiveness (morbimortality criteria) of our available antidiabetic drugs. In this non-extensive review of the literature, it was found that none of the current antidiabetic drugs have clearly proven their superiority over placebo in the gold standard double-blind randomized clinical trials. Thus, in 2013, the level of evidence for the clinical efficacy of antidiabetic drugs is disappointing and does not support the millions of prescriptions being written for them.
Keywords: Antidiabetic drugs; Clinical efficacy; Level of evidence; Type 2 diabetes.
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