Meeting the needs of type 2 diabetes patients

The Society for Medicines Research symposium Type II Diabetes: Mechanisms and Emerging Therapeutic Targets was held June 17, 2004, at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College, London, United Kingdom. The conference brought together an international program of speakers representing academia, small biotech companies and large pharmaceutical companies to review approaches aimed at increasing our understanding of the etiology of type 2 diabetes and advances in the development of novel therapeutics. Type 2 diabetes is a major, worldwide healthcare problem, and the incidence of this disease is rising. In the United States alone, 13.3 million people were diagnosed with diabetes in 2002, an increase of 5.8 million in a decade following an alarming trend beginning in the 1980s. People who have diabetes are at an increased risk of developing serious life-threatening complications, notably cardiovascular disease, as well as experiencing morbidity, which severely impairs their quality of life. This trend will pose an increasing burden on governmental healthcare budgets.