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Abstract

As the prevalence of type 2 diabetes (T2D) is rapidly increasing, and effective strategies to manage and prevent this disease are urgently required, as per WHO statistics undertaken in 2012, the number of people suffering from T2D in India is expected to shoot up from 40.9 million in 2007 to 69.9 million by the year 2025. Even though, the symptoms of T2D are seen in the later stages of life, the onset of the disease occurs quite early and is referred to as lifestyle disorder. Insulin resistance and β cell dysfunction are the main causative factors along with mutations in the genes regulating glucose homeostasis and β cell development. A vicious circle of the causes and effects of hyperglycemia interlinked together forms the whole picture of T2D. Our review discusses the molecular targets of the current oral therapeutic drugs, which cuts down hyperglycemia. This review aims to provide better insights to comprehension of the disease, recent advances in molecular and cellular therapies. A comprehensive analysis of these novel targets identified over the years and various therapeutic leads which successfully completed their clinical trials are presented in this review. Few of these lead molecules operate as GLP-1 agonist, SGLT2 inhibitors, and DPP-IV inhibitors and are termed as next generation anti-diabetic drugs.