A Phase III Randomized, Double-blind, Parallel-group Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of Acarmet (Metformin HCl 500 mg Plus Acarbose 50 mg Tablets) Versus Acarbose Alone in Subjects With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic disorder which is caused by both insulin secretion deficiency and insulin action defect. In this type of subjects, fasting hyperglycemia is the result of the elevated rate of basal hepatic glucose production, and it is coexisting with hyperinsulinemia.After a meal, the impaired control of hepatic glucose production by insulin and decreased insulin-mediated glucose uptake by muscle contributed nearly equally to postprandial hyperglycemia(Scheen, 1997). Type 2 diabetic subjects experience significant morbidity and mortality from microvascular (retinopathy, nephropathy, and neuropathy) and macrovascular (cardiovascular disease, stroke, and peripheral vascular disease) complications. The appropriate treatment and good glycemic control of diabetes is therefore important and necessary (Vaag, 2006). Evidences suggest that combination therapy using oral antidiabetic agents with different mechanisms of action may be more effective in achieving and maintaining target blood glucose level (Turner et al., 2005).There are five classes of oral antihyperglycemic agents (sulfonylureas, biguanides, α- ucosidase inhibitors, thiazolidinediones and meglitinides) currently available to improve glycemic control in subjects with type 2 diabetes, each of which works through a different mechanism of action. Metformin, a biguanide which has insulin-sensitizing properties, can be used alone or in combination with other classes of agents. Metformin is the currently the first-choice treatment in subjects with diagnosed type 2 diabetic subjects and obesity, characterized by insulin-resistance. Metformin also provides reduction of body weight and ameliorates lipid abnormalities and is thought to be related to a reduction in hepatic gluconeogenesis (Hundal \& Inzucchi, 2003).Acarbose, the α-glucosidase inhibitor, is approved for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, and first approved for prediabetes treatment (Chiasson et al., 1994; Breuer, 2003; Chiasso