Risk of low blood sugar differs among similar diabetes drugs

Adding sulphonylureas (SUs) to metformin remains a commonly used strategy for treating type 2 diabetes, but individual SUs differ and may confer different risks of abnormally low blood sugar, or hypoglycemia. SUs — which include newer generation agents such as gliclazide, glipizide, glimepiride, and glibenclamide — stimulate the production of insulin in the pancreas and increase the effectiveness of insulin in the body.