Byetta (Exenatide)

Byetta (Exenatide)

Byetta (Exenatide) is an injectable diabetes medicine that helps control blood sugar levels and used to treat type 2 (non-insulin dependent) diabetes. It is available as prefilled injection pens that provide either 5 or 10 micrograms of exenatide in each dose.

How To Use Byetta

Treatment with Byetta should start at a dose of 5 micrograms twice a day for at least a month. The dose can then be increased to 10 micrograms twice a day. A dose higher than 10 micrograms twice a day is not recommended. The first dose of the day is administered within the one hour before the morning meal, and the second dose within the one hour before the evening meal. Byetta should never be given after a meal.

When adding Byetta to a sulphonylurea or basal insulin, the doctor may need to reduce the dose of the sulphonylurea or basal insulin because there is a risk of hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar levels). Adding Byetta to metformin or pioglitazone is not associated with this risk. Patients being treated with Byetta should continue to follow their diet and exercise plans.

How Does Byetta Work?

The active substance in Byetta, exenatide, is an ‘incretin mimetic’. This means that it acts in the same way as incretins (hormones produced in the gut) by increasing the amount of insulin released by the pancreas in response to food. This helps with the control of blood glucose levels.

Side Effects Of Byetta :

• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Indigestion
• Constipation
• Dizziness

These events occurred roughly as often as with placebo in combination with metformin, but occurred more often than placebo when Byetta was co-administered with either sulfonylurea alone or the metformin/sulfonylurea combination. Most episodes of hypoglycemia were mild-to-moderate, and resolvable with carbohydrate supplementation.

Byetta is a functional analog of the human incretin Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 (GLP-1) . Incretins enhance glucose-dependent insulin secretion and exhibit other antihyperglycemic actions following their release into the circulation from the gut.

This dose may be escalated to 10 mcg twice daily after 1 month, based on response from the body.