Sanofi Aventis K.K. has begun a study on 6,000 people with diabetes in 13 countries who are using insulin to find out how to control blood-sugar levels as a way to prevent heart attacks and strokes.
The Tokyo-based pharmaceutical company's study will take four years, with 60 medical institutions and 600 patients from Japan taking part, a company official said.
Type-2 diabetes, also called adult-onset diabetes and often caused by obesity, stress and lack of exercise, is sharply increasing worldwide. In Japan, an estimated 7.4 million people are thought to have the disease. The number worldwide is at more than 200 million and is expected to top 350 million by 2025.