MORE ABOUT TEVETEN

Researchers are always looking for new medications to do a better job of controlling diabetes and coping with its complications. Last issue, VOICE Vol. 14, No. 4, we reported about a European study, in which the Angiotensin II Receptor Antagonist medication Teveten (eprosartan mesylate), proven beneficial in reducing hypertension (high blood pressure), appeared, much like its cousins the ACE Inhibitors, to reduce the fluid pressure in the kidneys, and thus the rate and severity of diabetic renal disease.

This is big news. While the ACE Inhibitors definitely work, in some individuals they may produce a dry cough much like that from smoking, and Teveten does not. People who cannot take the ACE inhibitors should be able to use Teveten.

Although the study, presented at the 21st Congress of the European Society of Cardiology, was primarily concerned with the reduction of high blood pressure, its authors point out that more than 2.5 million Americans have both diabetes and hypertension, and that for these people, the risk of heart disease is four times higher. Study presenters also pointed out that an estimated 30%--75% of diabetic complications are linked to high blood pressure.

Remember that you can have microalbuminuria (small amounts of the protein albumin in the urine), a sign of early kidney disease, even without elevated blood pressure. Preliminary data on Teveten suggest it has beneficial effects on reducing urinary protein excretion in proteinuric patients, thus may be of benefit in preserving renal function, where progressive renal disease is present. The researchers, and Teveten's manufacturer, Unimed Pharmaceuticals, Inc., stress these renal findings are positive but preliminary.

If you have diabetes and kidney disease, or diabetes and hypertension, ask your doctor about Teveten. Approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1997 for the treatment of hypertension, it is available now.