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 BOSTON (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Doctors have turned back the clock more than 100 years to rediscover a drug that can help the more than 15 million people in the United States with type 2 diabetes. It's one drug that may provide twice the relief.
Mary Ann Provost's pain from diabetes and arthritis nearly stopped her from suiting up for one of her favorite activities.
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"I was seriously doubting whether I was going to do any golf," she told Ivanhoe. Now doctors believe relief may be found in these pills.
"I think it's a miracle drug," Provost said. "I really do."
The drug called salsalate is currently approved to treat joint pain, but researchers say it may have a dual purpose for those with type 2 diabetes.
"We've shown that using the drug for short periods of time can lower blood sugars both before  people eat and after they eat and their average blood sugar measurements over time," Allison Goldfine, M.D., clinical research head at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, Mass., explained to Ivanhoe.
Doctors say just like it reduces inflammation in joints, salsalate does the same in other tissues. That in turn, may lower blood sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes.
After a little more digging, doctors realized they had landed on a path that was forged more than 100 years ago. A medical journal dating back to 1876 reported using salicylate, the simple form of salsalate, to treat a patient with diabetes.
"It's one of those rare moments in doing science where we actually can say, 'Ah, ha! We made a discovery!' There's something new here," Steven Shoelson, M.D., Ph.D., a medical researcher at Joslin Diabetes Center said.
Provost's blood sugar levels are stable and healthy and her arthritis is under control.
 "I'm a different person," she described.
Doctors say salsalate has a good safety profile and is inexpensive. Broader studies on the drug were just completed in 13 states. Researchers plan to release the findings in a couple of months. A much larger trial is planned for later this year and will be conducted at 20 sites across the nation.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
TINSAL-T2D Study
http://www.tinsal-t2d.org
To read Ivanhoe's full-length interview with Dr. Goldfine, click here.
To read Ivanhoe's full-length interview with Dr. Shoelson, click here.
Sign up for a free weekly e-mail on Medical Breakthroughs called First to Know by clicking here.
If this story or any other Ivanhoe story has impacted your life or prompted you or someone you know to seek or change treatments, please let us know by contacting Lindsay Braun at lbraun@ivanhoe.com.
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.
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