Combination therapy: A new strategy to manage diabetes and its complications

Diabetes mellitus is the most common metabolic disorder. The major cause of mortality and morbidity here is due to the complications caused by increased glucose concentrations. All the available commercial antidiabetic drugs are associated with side effects. The combination therapy could be a new and highly effective therapeutic strategy to manage hyperglycemia. Combination of commercial drugs with phytochemicals may reduce the side effects caused by these synthetic drugs. Herbal products have been thought to be inherently safe, because of their natural origin and traditional use rather than based on systemic studies. New formulation and cocrystallisation strategies need to be adopted to match the bioavailability of the drug and the phytochemical. This review describes in detail, the observed synergy and mechanism of action between phytochemicals and synthetic drugs in effectively combating. The mode of action of combination differs significantly than that of the drugs alone; hence isolating a single component may lose its importance thereby simplifying the task of pharma industries. © 2013 Elsevier GmbH.