Understanding the Causes of Diabetes Reverse-engineering a drug to determine molecular pathways is an anomaly in today's genomic revolution. Much work has gone into making better insulin. Approaches to improvements in insulin have included developing an oral formulation, making an aerosolized delivery system and making insulin with longer-lasting, more stable effects. Now, studying the mechanisms of action of anti-diabetic drugs, research has revealed some significant insight into how diabetes actually occurs. Many drugs are developed as interventions, to treat the symptoms or problems associated with disease, but do not cure or prevent the disease.
Diabetes drugs are no exception.
The factors that cause these problems are varied. The inability to produce insulin through the loss of cells that are responsible for insulin production is a significant contributor to diabetes. Type I diabetes, now classified as an autoimmune disorder, results from selective destruction of insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. The decreased ability of cells to respond to insulin, known as insulin resistance, also leads to diabetes. Type II diabetes results from a reduction in the effectiveness of the body's response to insulin and often leads to insufficient production of insulin in response to glucose.