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UNM recently accepted millions of dollars to study diabetes.
The National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases awarded a $2.8 million grant to the UNM Health Sciences Center earlier this month.
The grant will fund the University’s participation in a project called Glycemia Reduction Approaches in Diabetes: A Comparative Effectiveness (GRADE) Study, which will focus on finding treatments for Type 2 diabetes.
“It was a competitive grant in which we had to apply,” Elizabeth Duran-Valdez, a clinical research associate for GRADE, said. “There were 37 sites that were chosen throughout the U.S.”
The application process began in June, according to a press release from the NIH for the study.
The long-term study will assess the risks and benefits of four different types of drugs, which supplements a medication called metformin, for Type 2 diabetes, Duran-Valdez said. She said although metformin is a common initial treatment for patients with the disease, no one knows what the next best treatment option is.
“Typically, most people will eventually need a second drug to be added (after the metformin),” she said. “This is the first time a study has looked at what’s the next best drug to add to metformin.”
Duran-Valdez said the study will last for seven years and will involve 5,000 participants nationwide, including 150 people from New Mexico. The HSC is seeking volunteers to participate in the study, she said.
“The recruitment period is three years, so we have three years to get that 150 people,” she said. “People will volunteer but they will need to meet the study criteria in order to be in the study.”
To be able to volunteer for the study, participants must have been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in the last five years, Duran-Valdez said. She said they should currently be taking only metformin to treat their diabetes, and that women who want to participate cannot be pregnant.
GRADE will be providing diabetes education to participants in the study, Duran-Valdez said.
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While the study will be conducted nationwide, David Schade, the principal investigator for the study at UNM, said he believes that the study will have special benefits for New Mexicans.
“It’s also important to New Mexicans because we’re providing medications free,” he said. “We’re providing doctor visits free. So there are a lot of people maybe having trouble finding a doctor, or getting medications, or even affording them. And we can provide all of that at no cost for 150 people.”
According to data from the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, 8.1 percent of adults in New Mexico were diagnosed with diabetes in 2010.
Schade said UNM will work efficiently with the NIH because it has experience conducting diabetes research. He said he is confident UNM will be able to successfully execute the study.
“We have a long track record of these types of studies and doing well. In other words, we’ve been a diabetes center for maybe 30 years,” he said. “The NIH wants to choose a winner in New Mexico, and we’re probably the most experienced place to do this.”
