'Overdose drug' hope for diabetes sufferers

Published on Monday 28 January 2008 21:18

A DRUG used to reverse the effects of paracetamol overdoses might prove a lifesaver for diabetes sufferers.

NHS-funded work has found that N-acetylcysteine can be used to control "sticky" blood, which is common in patients with diabetes and can lead to blood clots, heart attacks, strokes and blocked arteries in the legs.

Results of the research in the Highlands have been so promising that Scottish Health Innovations, a Glasgow-based development company, is to fund a patent application and the next level of testing.

More than 2.3 million people in the UK have been diagnosed with diabetes, while another 750,000 are thought to be sufferers but do not know it. Scotland has more than 200,000 people with diabetes. In NHS Highland's area alone, the number is more than 11,000, and that is forecast to rise to 13,000 by 2017.

About 80 per cent of diabetes sufferers die from heart-related problems and the condition raises by fifteen times the likelihood of leg amputation as a result of blocked arteries.

The research was carried out in Inverness by Kyle Gibson, 21, a medical student at the department of diabetes, part of the UHI Millennium Institute, the body hoping to become the university of the Highlands and Islands.