Creative use of novel glucose-lowering drugs for type 2 diabetes: where will we head in the next 50 years?

Research conducted over the last 50 years has produced discoveries on the importance of glucose control for reducing the risk of diabetic complications, the pathophysiology of type 2 diabetes, the development and validation of mechanistic glucose-lowering targets, and the preclinical and clinical development of individual drugs. This science established the different drug classes that are clinically used today in association with lifestyle changes for lowering glucose in type 2 diabetes. For the next 50 years, we can anticipate that science will explore (1) the use of current drugs and, as they become available, newly developed drugs in early (initial) oral combinations followed by intensification with injectable combinations when glycaemia deteriorates, (2) the validation of novel mechanistic biochemical and physiological targets, including indirect effects of future antiobesity drugs, and (3) the development of true disease-modifying strategies based on knowledge of islet cell biology and replacement. This is one of a series of commentaries under the banner ‘50 years forward’, giving personal opinions on future perspectives in diabetes, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Diabetologia (1965–2015).