[Pharmaco-economics of type 2 diabetes]

Type 2 diabetes has long been considered as a benign disease, whereas it is in fact associated with an enormous socio-economic cost. The major part of the burden of diabetes results from the management of complications (both direct and indirect costs), rather than from the various components of the antihyperglycaemic treatment itself. Solutions include a better prevention of the disease, an earlier diagnosis among individuals at risk, and an optimized management of diabetes, particularly in primary care settings, in order to avoid or retard the development of severe micro- or macroangiopathic complications which are particularly expensive.