Actos is an oral diabetes agent called thiazolidinediones. Actos is a clinically proven medicine prescribed to lower blood glucose levels. It is used in people with type 2 diabetes. This form of the illness usually stems from the body's inability to make good use of insulin, the natural hormone that helps to transfer sugar out of the blood and into the cells, where it's converted to energy.

Actos is an antihyperglycemic agent. Actos is a once-a-day prescription pill for type 2 diabetes. When your necessary efforts at healthy eating and physical activity alone do not control your blood glucose levels, Actos along with healthy eating and physical activity helps your body more effectively use its own natural insulin or the insulin you take.

Actos helps reduce insulin resistance, which has been identified as one of the major problems in type 2 diabetes.

Some of the benefits of therapy with Actos are:

By helping your body use insulin more effectively, Actos lowers blood glucose.

Actos is a convenient, once-a-day pill that can be taken anytime.

Actos reduces the amount of sugar produced by the liver and also helps the body respond better to insulin. It can help control blood sugar levels.

Actos is used, along with diet and exercise, in the treatment of type 2 diabetes. Actos may also be used alone or in combination with a sulfonylurea (e.g., Diabeta, Glucotrol, Micronase, others), metformin (Glucophage), or insulin when diet and exercise plus any one of these medicines alone do not result in adequate blood sugar control.

Actos may have a good effect on HDL (good) cholesterol and blood fats (triglycerides) with no consistent changes in LDL (bad) cholesterol or total cholesterol.

Actos has not been associated with stomach upset when used alone.

Actos can be used alone or in combination with certain other diabetes medicines such as sulfonylureas, metformin, or insulin. Taken alone, Actos does not cause hypoglycemia (low blood glucose levels). However, if you take Actos with insulin or sulfonylureas, you may be at increased risk for hypoglycemia. Talk to your health professional about the signs and symptoms of hypoglycemia.

Actos is available in three different dose levels so you and your health professional have more treatment options to consider.

Actos can often begin working within 2 weeks, although it may take several weeks to see the full effect.

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Generally, the body will break down (digest) food into products it can absorb and use. One of those products is glucose, or sugar, the main source of energy for the body. Insulin is produced by the pancreas and is needed to let glucose into the body's cells so it can be processed into energy.

For people with type 2 diabetes, the body is able to produce some insulin, but not enough. In addition, the cells have become resistant to the effects of insulin, which means that the body cannot respond to the insulin. This condition is called insulin resistance.

When tissue, such as muscle, becomes insulin resistant, the body loses its ability to utilize glucose effectively. In an attempt to use the glucose, the body responds by telling the pancreas to produce extra insulin (a condition known as hyperinsulinemia). The extra insulin tries to unlock the cells and force them to take the glucose from the bloodstream. The liver also becomes insulin resistant and responds by overproducing glucose. This contributes to high blood glucose (known as hyperglycemia). Eventually, the pancreas can no longer produce enough insulin to compensate for insulin resistance. As a result, glucose levels rise in the blood.

Actos effectively reduces insulin resistance, fasting insulin levels, and blood glucose. Actos, along with healthy eating and physical activity, works by helping the body use its naturally produced insulin, or administered insulin in type 2 diabetes, to help use glucose as a fuel and reduce the harmful buildup of glucose.

Actos often is referred to as an "insulin sensitizer" because it attaches to the insulin receptors on cells throughout the body and causes the cells to become more sensitive (more responsive) to insulin. As a result, more glucose is removed from the blood. At least some insulin must be produced by the pancreas in order for Actos to work.

Actos also lowers the level of glucose in the blood by reducing the production and secretion of glucose into the blood by the liver. In addition, Actos may alter the blood concentrations of lipids (fats) in the blood. Specifically, it decreases triglycerides and increases the "good" (HDL) cholesterol.

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