Adult-onset diabetes, also known as type II diabetes, most often develops in overweight adults. While they continue to produce insulin, their bodies have built up resistance to the substance and cannot use it properly to control blood sugar.

Until now, the only option was a class of drugs called sulfonylureas, which stimulate the body to produce more insulin. But the new drug, Glucophage, enhances the body's response to its own insulin, avoiding the risk of dangerously low blood sugar that can occur when the body produces too much insulin, researchers said recently at a news conference on the drug's release.