Important: This page is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend or prescribe any treatment. Always consult your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.
About Diabetes Medicines
Diabetes is a disease in which your blood glucose, or blood sugar, levels are too high. Glucose comes from the foods you eat. The cells of your body need glucose for energy. A hormone called insulin helps the glucose get into your cells.
Treatments for diabetes can depend on the type. Common treatments include a diabetic meal plan, regular physical activity, and medicines. Some less common treatments are weight loss surgery for either type and an artificial pancreas or pancreatic islet transplantation for some people with type 1 diabetes.
People with type 1 diabetes need to take a diabetes medicine called insulin to control their blood sugar.
Some people with type 2 diabetes can control their blood sugar with healthy food choices and physical activity. But for others, a diabetic meal plan and physical activity are not enough. They need to take diabetes medicines.
The kind of medicine you take depends on your type of diabetes, daily schedule, medicine costs, and any other health conditions that you have. Over time, you may need to take more than one diabetes medicine.
If you have type 1 diabetes, you must take insulin because your body no longer makes it. There are different types of insulin that start to work at different speeds, and the effects of each last a different length of time. Your health care provider will measure your blood glucose to decide on the type of insulin. You may need to use more than one type.
You will also need to check your blood sugar at home. Your provider will tell you how often. The results of your blood sugar testing can help you make decisions about food, physical activity, and medicines.
You can take insulin several different ways. The most common are with a needle and syringe, an insulin pen, or an insulin pump. If you use a needle and syringe or a pen, you have to take insulin several times during the day, including with meals. An insulin pump gives you small, steady doses throughout the day. Less common ways to take insulin include inhalers, injection ports, and jet injectors.
In rare cases, taking insulin alone might not be enough to manage your blood sugar. Then you would need to take another diabetes medicine.
There are several different medicines for type 2 diabetes. Each works in a different way. Many of them are pills. There are also medicines that you inject under your skin, such as insulin.
Over time, you may need more than one diabetes medicine to manage your blood sugar. You might add another diabetes medicine or switch to a combination medicine. A combination medicine contains more than one type of diabetes medicine in the same pill. Some people with type 2 diabetes take both pills and injections.
Even if you don't usually take insulin, you may need it at special times, such as during pregnancy or if you are in the hospital.
Even if you take medicines for diabetes, you still need to eat a healthy diet, stop smoking, take your other medicines, and get regular physical activity. These will help you manage your diabetes.
It is important to make sure that you understand your diabetes treatment plan. Talk to your provider about:
- What your target blood sugar level is
- What to do if your blood sugar gets too low or too high
- Whether your diabetes medicines will affect other medicines you take
- If you will have any side effects from the diabetes medicines
You should not change or stop your diabetes medicines on your own. Talk to your provider first.
It sits within Endocrine System, Drug Therapy and Diabetes Mellitus.
The lead U.S. institute for this subject is the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
When to speak to someone. Reading about a topic cannot tell you whether it applies to you. Speak to a doctor or pharmacist if symptoms are severe, sudden, getting worse, or simply not going away — and seek emergency care immediately for chest pain, breathing difficulty, sudden weakness or confusion, or a serious allergic reaction.
Research on Diabetes Medicines
1,694 studies areregistered for this condition on ClinicalTrials.gov, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's public registry. A selection is below — the links go straight to the registry entry, not to a summary of ours.
What a registered study does and does not mean. Registration means a study exists and has been declared publicly. It says nothing about whether the treatment being tested works, is safe, or is available to you. Many studies find no benefit — that is what research is for. Never seek out an experimental treatment on the strength of a registry entry alone.
Research currently under way
- Therapeutic Synergy of Probiotic Augmented Conventional Antidiabetic Pharmacotherapy in Gestational Diabetes MellitusRiphah International University
- Evaluation of Neuregulin-4 (NRG4) Levels in Obese and Non-Obese Patients With Type 2 Diabetes MellitusGÜLDEN ANATACA
- Digital Dietary Intervention for Patients Receiving GLP-1 Receptor Agonist TherapyKazakh Academy of Nutrition
- Advancing Precision Medicine for Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes in Asian Populations: Digital Intervention CohortNational University of Singapore
- A Study to Learn About the Study Medicine (PF-08653944) in People With Obesity or Overweight and Type 2 Diabetes (T2D)Pfizer
- GlycoQuest: An AI-Adaptive CGM-Integrated Serious Game for Pediatric Type 1 DiabetesShifa International Hospital
Research already completed
- Personalized Meal Timing and Walking Based on Glucose Patterns in Adults With PrediabetesShifa International Hospital
- Transcutaneous Pulsed Radiofrequency for the Treatment of Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy PainAlgiamed Technologies USA, Inc.
- PANDIA IRIS: Patients With Diabetes and Kidney Failure, an Interdisciplinary Medication Adherence Support ProgramCenter for Primary Care and Public Health (Unisante), University of Lausanne, Switzerland
Study data from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 2026-07-30. Registry entries are supplied by study sponsors and investigators; ClinicalTrials.gov does not verify their scientific validity. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH.
Where to read more
Rather than paraphrase, we point you to the primary sources. Every link below is to a government health agency, a national institute or a recognised medical body — grouped by what you are trying to find out.
Start Here
- Diabetes MedicationsAmerican Heart Association
- Insulin, Medicines, and Other Diabetes TreatmentsNational Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
- Types of InsulinCenters for Disease Control and Prevention
- Women and Diabetes -- Diabetes MedicinesFood and Drug Administration
Related Issues
- Best Way to Get Rid of Used Needles and Other SharpsFood and Drug Administration
- Diabetes drugs and weight lossMayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research
- Dos and Don'ts of Proper Sharps DisposalFood and Drug Administration
- Insulin and Weight Gain: Keep the Pounds OffMayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research
- Insulin Pumps: Relief and ChoiceAmerican Diabetes Association
- Managing Your MedicinesAmerican Diabetes Association
Clinical Trials
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Hypoglycemic AgentsNational Institutes of Health
- ClinicalTrials.gov: InsulinNational Institutes of Health
Medical subject headings
Clinicians and researchers index this subject under Insulins, Hypoglycemic Agents, Insulin. These are the terms to use when searching medical literature.
This page is built from the MedlinePlus health topic record for Diabetes Medicines, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Information is from MedlinePlus.gov. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and is not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH. Retrieved 30 July 2026.