Diabetes treatment drug also may prevent it, study finds: A new study found that the diabetes drug sold under the name Avandia reduces the chances of developing the disease in people at high risk.

Byline: Jacob Goldstein

Sep. 16--A drug used to treat patients with diabetes also cuts the chances of developing the disease by nearly 60 percent among people at high risk, according to one of the largest diabetes prevention studies ever conducted. The results, published Friday, are comparable to those achieved in earlier studies by aggressively encouraging people to change their diet and exercise habits. "Weight loss and dietary changes are still very important and are the first and primary way to treat this," said Dr. James Rosenzweig, of the Joslin Diabetes Center and Harvard Medical School, who was not involved in the study. But, he added, 'some physicians…