Pioglitazone is a very effective drug in contolling blood sugar levels in type 2 diabetes mellitus It has been in use for a long time in clinical practice. Pioglitazone in combination with metformin is a very effective drug. However Pioglitazone has got it's own share of side effects like water retension, hepatotoxicity and rarely incidences of bladder cancer.
In patient's who can tolerate pioglitazone and periodic screening for bladder cancer can be done then it scores above the clinical efficacy of gliptins. Further pioglitazone is much cheaper than gliptins and in the Indian scenario cost effective drugs have to be prescribed in long term treatment like diabetes. Gliptins alone have not given good clinical results unless they are combined with metformin.
