This page shows what was measured, who it was measured in, and what that does not settle.
What Acarbose does in the body
The enzymes are occupied, digestion slows, and glucose trickles into the blood over a longer stretch of intestine instead of arriving all at once.
Starch has to be chopped into glucose before it can be absorbed, and enzymes lining the small intestine do the chopping. Acarbose looks enough like the starch fragments those enzymes normally cut that they grab it instead, and it does not come apart. The drug itself barely enters the bloodstream. The starch it failed to digest travels on to the large intestine, where bacteria ferment it, which is why the main side effect is gas.
Why people take it. Type 2 diabetes — a tablet that slows the digestion of starch in the gut
What happened in people
A hazard ratio of 0.98 (95% CI 0.86 to 1.11, p=0.73) for the five-point cardiovascular composite in 6,522 randomised patients over a median 5.0 years
✎ Source-linked record
Where this came from
A person wrote this into the record with the study named beside it. No reviewer has signed it off.
The recorded finding that sits closest to something a person would notice. Written into the record, not signed off, and it carries no population or interval.
The only oral glucose-lowering drug in common use that acts entirely within the gut lumen and brush border
Where it acts
The lumen and brush border of the small intestine. Less than 2% of a dose reaches the circulation as active drug.
Kind of result
The kind of result is not recorded
Supervision
RNAWiki has not recorded a supervision or regulatory status for this substance.
What the registries record it as
The substance registry classes this as chemical.
FDA substance registry · T58MSI464G · read 2026-08-29
Its recorded molecular formula is C25H43NO18, weighing 645.6.
US prescribing information · 656769ee-e292-4950-83df-a38e6b1a9d6e · read 2026-08-30
Where each sentence above came from
A person wrote this explanation into the record, with the studies named in the path below.
The recorded use, written for a reader without medical training. Not signed off.
A limit recorded against this substance. Not signed off as a reviewed claim.
The four opening statements run to 145 words.
Words this page uses
Four words worth knowing first
Chosen from what this page shows, with each one explained before the word it depends on.
Stand-in result
A stand-in result is a number measured because the real result takes too long.
A picture of it, and where the picture fails
It is like judging a journey by the speedometer rather than by arriving.
Where that stops being true. Speed does predict arrival. Many stand-in results do not predict the real one.
What people get wrong. A stand-in result is often reported as the result itself.
A surrogate endpoint substituted for a clinical endpoint, valid only where the substitution has been shown to hold.
Randomisation
Randomisation means chance decides who gets which treatment.
A picture of it, and where the picture fails
It is like a coin toss deciding the groups.
Where that stops being true. A coin toss is fair once. Fairness here comes from doing it for everyone.
What people get wrong. It is thought to make groups identical. It makes them similar on average, including on things nobody measured.
Allocation of participants to arms by a chance process, so that unmeasured factors are balanced in expectation.
Confidence interval
A confidence interval is the range the true answer is likely to sit in.
A picture of it, and where the picture fails
It is like a weather forecast giving a range rather than one number.
Where that stops being true. A forecast range covers tomorrow. This one covers what the study could resolve.
What people get wrong. The middle number is read as the answer. A range crossing zero means no change is still possible.
An interval estimate that would contain the true parameter in a stated proportion of repeated studies.
Pathway
A pathway is a chain of steps inside a cell, each one setting off the next.
A picture of it, and where the picture fails
A pathway is like a row of dominoes.
Where that stops being true. Dominoes fall one way. Pathways loop back and can switch themselves off.
What people get wrong. Changing one step is read as changing the outcome. Other steps often absorb it.
An ordered series of molecular interactions producing a defined cellular change.
What happened in people◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
What was measured, goal by goal
One row for each goal a registered study measured something for. One column for each kind of thing that could be measured.
Registered studies list 40 outcome measures that RNAWiki could read. A registered study says what someone planned to measure. It does not say what they found. 0 of the matched studies tested this substance, and 0 posted a result.
There is no single score. A strong test result and a weak life result are different facts.
Goals down the side, kinds of measurement across the top. Each cell says what kind of thing was registered, not what was found.
Goal
Life outcome
What a body can do
How a person feels
A test result
A step in the body
Harms
How long
Who was studied
Blood sugar
∅Nothing in the sources checkedNo registered study lists a life outcome for this goal.
∅Nothing in the sources checkedNo registered study lists a performance measure for this goal.
∅Nothing in the sources checkedNo registered study lists a symptom measure for this goal.
△Only a number moved10 registered test measure.
∅Nothing in the sources checkedNo registered study lists a body-step measure for this goal.
—Not recordedHarms were not a registered measure for this goal.
—Not recordedNo finished study window is recorded.
…Waiting for a reviewerWho was studied is listed further down the page.
Body weight
∅Nothing in the sources checkedNo registered study lists a life outcome for this goal.
∅Nothing in the sources checkedNo registered study lists a performance measure for this goal.
∅Nothing in the sources checkedNo registered study lists a symptom measure for this goal.
△Only a number moved2 registered test measure.
∅Nothing in the sources checkedNo registered study lists a body-step measure for this goal.
—Not recordedHarms were not a registered measure for this goal.
—Not recordedNo finished study window is recorded.
…Waiting for a reviewerWho was studied is listed further down the page.
Which registered measures put each goal on this table
Blood sugar
incidence of newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes; postprandial glucose excursion at the end of the study; androgen hyper responsiveness to insulin; diabetic retinopathy; diabetic nephropathy; hba1c; progression of fasting glucose 140; hba1c from baseline to end of treatment
Body weight
data collection on body weight; body weight and fructosamine levels during ramadan fasting
Sorted by fixed word lists, version v1. A name the rules do not recognise stays unsorted rather than moving to the nearest column.
What each mark on this table means
∅ Nothing in the sources checked
No registered study lists a life outcome for this goal.
△ Only a number moved
10 registered test measure.
— Not recorded
Harms were not a registered measure for this goal.
… Waiting for a reviewer
Who was studied is listed further down the page.
What happened in people◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
What happened in people
Each card is one study: the exact question it asked, who was in it, and whether it showed what it set out to show.
Five-point composite of cardiovascular death, non-fatal myocardial infarction, non-fatal stroke, hospital admission for unstable angina and hospital admission for heart failure, in Chinese patients with coronary heart disease and impaired glucose tolerance
Phase 4 randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trial, median 5.0 years
Compared against
A dummy treatment
Kind of result
Living longer, or avoiding a major event
What was found
Hazard ratio 0.98 (95% CI 0.86 to 1.11, P = 0.73) — no effect. Diabetes incidence rate ratio 0.82 (95% CI 0.71 to 0.94, P = 0.005)
Repeated elsewhere
Unreplicated
What this does not prove. A study that did not show an effect does not show that no effect exists anywhere.
The limits of this study, and where it came from
Main limit. No secondary cardiovascular outcome differed either. Gastrointestinal disorders caused discontinuation or dose change in 7% against 5% (P = 0.0007). The trial was funded by Bayer AG, the originator.
How far it carries. This study is recorded from the curated record, not from the registry match.
Form and route. Oral tablet taken with the first bite of a meal, in 25 mg, 50 mg and 100 mg strengths
Interval reported. 95% CI 0
Written into the record, not signed off as a reviewed claim.
Development of type 2 diabetes on yearly oral glucose tolerance testing in patients with impaired glucose tolerance
✓ The study showed what it set out to show
Who was studied
STOP-NIDDM — diabetes prevention endpoint
How many people
1429
Study design
Multicentre randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trial, mean 3.3 years
Compared against
A dummy treatment
Kind of result
A number that stands in for health
What was found
P = 0.0015; relative hazard 0.75 (95% CI 0.63 to 0.90). 221 of 682 (32%) against 285 of 686 (42%)
Repeated elsewhere
Replicated
What this does not prove. Meeting one endpoint in one population does not carry to other goals or other people.
The limits of this study, and where it came from
Main limit. Discontinuation was 31% on acarbose against 19% on placebo, and conversion to diabetes rose during a three-month placebo period at the end of the study — both compatible with an effect on the diagnostic test rather than on the disease.
How far it carries. This study is recorded from the curated record, not from the registry match.
Form and route. Oral tablet taken with the first bite of a meal, in 25 mg, 50 mg and 100 mg strengths
Interval reported. 95% CI 0
Written into the record, not signed off as a reviewed claim.
Development of major cardiovascular events and of hypertension in patients with impaired glucose tolerance
✓ The study showed what it set out to show
Who was studied
STOP-NIDDM — cardiovascular and hypertension analysis (JAMA 2003)
How many people
1368
Study design
Secondary analysis of the same randomised trial, mean 3.3 years
Compared against
Not recorded for this study
Kind of result
A number that stands in for health
What was found
Hazard ratio 0.51 (95% CI 0.28 to 0.95, P = 0.03) for cardiovascular events; 0.09 (95% CI 0.01 to 0.72, P = 0.02) for myocardial infarction; 0.66 (95% CI 0.49 to 0.89, P = 0.006) for new hypertension
Repeated elsewhere
Failed to Replicate
What this does not prove. Meeting one endpoint in one population does not carry to other goals or other people.
The limits of this study, and where it came from
Main limit. A published critique in Diabetologia reported selection bias, inadequate blinding, bias in data analysis and reporting, and potential sponsoring bias, and concluded the validity of the results was seriously flawed. The 6,522-patient ACE trial subsequently found a hazard ratio of 0.98.
How far it carries. This study is recorded from the curated record, not from the registry match.
Form and route. Oral tablet taken with the first bite of a meal, in 25 mg, 50 mg and 100 mg strengths
Interval reported. 95% CI 0
Written into the record, not signed off as a reviewed claim.
RNAWiki holds 3 written-up human studies for this substance, each with the question it asked.
How we know it
Each card names the study, the number of people and what the study set out to measure.
What this does not prove
These summaries were written by a person and have not been signed off as reviewed claims.
Why it matters
A study that failed is as informative as one that worked, and both are here.
What we still do not know
No reviewed claim exists, so no exact population, effect size or interval is published yet.
What happened in people◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
How close this is to real life
The top step is something a person would feel or care about. The bottom is a guess from software. Filled steps are where evidence exists for this substance.
■Living longer, or avoiding a major eventEvidence recorded. Death, a heart attack, a stroke, a hospital stay.1 registered measure of this kind. 1 written-up study measured this and did not show a benefit.
□What a body can do day to dayNo evidence recorded. Walking, dressing, breathing, recovering.No registered study measures this.
□Measured performanceNo evidence recorded. How much was lifted, how far was run, how fast.No registered study measures this.
□Symptoms and quality of lifeNo evidence recorded. Pain, tiredness, mood, sleep, as the person rated it.No registered study measures this.
■A number that stands in for healthEvidence recorded. Cholesterol, blood sugar, bone density. A stand-in, not the thing itself.19 registered measures of this kind.
■A step measured inside a personEvidence recorded. Something measured in human tissue or human cells.1 registered measure inside human tissue.
■AnimalsEvidence recorded. Mice, rats, dogs. Useful for ideas, not proof about people.Stored records in C. elegans (roundworm), Mouse. A result in animals says what to test next. It does not say what happens in people.
■Cells in a dishEvidence recorded. Cells or chemistry on a bench, far from a whole body.Stored mechanism abstracts describe steps measured in cells or tissue.
□A guess from softwareNo evidence recorded. Nobody measured it. RNAWiki never publishes one as a finding.RNAWiki stores no prediction for this record. Software can suggest a link. RNAWiki does not publish one as a finding.
Higher on these steps means closer to something a person would feel. It does not mean better done.
What it changes in the body◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
The path through the body
From what a person takes to what changes. A solid line is a step measured in people. A dashed line is a step nobody has measured that way.
Start
Acarbose
What a person takes: Oral tablet taken with the first bite of a meal, in 25 mg, 50 mg and 100 mg strengths.
The measurement behind this step
A conventional tablet of a water-soluble oligosaccharide with a pKa of 5.1, isolated from the fermentation broth of Actinoplanes utahensis. The timing relative to food is not a convenience: the drug and the starch have to reach the enzymes together, because the inhibition is competitive and reversible. Taken away from food it has nothing to compete with and does nothing.
Getting in
Swallowed with food and stays in the gut
Unlike almost every other tablet, this one is not meant to be absorbed. It works in the same place the food is, and most of it leaves in the stool.
──Measured in people. Written by a person from the study named beside the step. Not signed off as a reviewed claim.
The measurement behind this step
Less than 2% of an oral dose is absorbed as active drug; about 51% is excreted in faeces as unabsorbed drug-related radioactivity within 96 hours. The therapeutic compartment is the lumen and brush border of the small intestine, not plasma.
It impersonates the sugar chain the enzymes are built to cut
The molecule is a chain of sugar-like units that looks to the digestive enzymes exactly like the starch fragment they normally attack — except that one of the links cannot be cut.
╌╌Described, with no measurement named. No measurement is named for this step, so it is drawn as an unconfirmed link.
The measurement behind this step
Acarbose is a pseudotetrasaccharide: an unsaturated cyclitol linked through a secondary amine to a 4,6-dideoxyglucose and then to two glucose units. The nitrogen bridge mimics the oxocarbenium transition state of glycoside hydrolysis but is not hydrolysable, giving competitive, reversible inhibition with far higher affinity than the natural substrate.
Starch digestion slows in both the lumen and the gut wall
Two sets of enzymes are blocked: the ones released by the pancreas into the gut, and the ones anchored to the surface of the intestinal lining.
╌╌Described, with no measurement named. No measurement is named for this step, so it is drawn as an unconfirmed link.
The measurement behind this step
The label describes competitive reversible inhibition of pancreatic alpha-amylase, which cleaves complex starch to oligosaccharides in the lumen, and of the membrane-bound intestinal alpha-glucosidases of the brush border, which cleave oligosaccharides, trisaccharides and disaccharides to glucose. Lactase is not inhibited.
Glucose arrives more slowly and further down the intestine
The same total amount of glucose still gets absorbed. It just arrives spread out over a longer stretch of gut and a longer stretch of time, so the spike after a meal is lower.
╌╌Described, with no measurement named. No measurement is named for this step, so it is drawn as an unconfirmed link.
The measurement behind this step
Delayed hydrolysis moves the site of glucose absorption distally and flattens the post-prandial excursion. Because average blood glucose over time is what glycates haemoglobin, the flattened excursion translates into a lower HbA1c without any change in insulin secretion.
Bacteria in the large intestine ferment what was not digested
Carbohydrate that escaped digestion reaches the colon, where gut bacteria break it down and produce gas. This is the dose-limiting side effect and it is inseparable from the mechanism.
╌╌Described, with no measurement named. No measurement is named for this step, so it is drawn as an unconfirmed link.
The measurement behind this step
Colonic microbiota ferment the undigested oligosaccharide to hydrogen, methane, carbon dioxide and short-chain fatty acids. In the ACE trial, gastrointestinal disorders led to discontinuation or dose change in 7% of the acarbose arm against 5% on placebo (p=0.0007); in STOP-NIDDM, at three times the dose, 31% of the acarbose arm discontinued early.
And the same block makes table sugar useless in a hypo
If low blood sugar happens because acarbose is combined with insulin or a sulfonylurea, ordinary sugar will not lift it quickly, because the drug blocks the enzyme that splits it.
╌╌Described, with no measurement named. No measurement is named for this step, so it is drawn as an unconfirmed link.
The measurement behind this step
Sucrose requires sucrase-isomaltase hydrolysis to glucose and fructose before absorption, and that enzyme is inhibited. The label specifies oral glucose (dextrose), whose absorption is not inhibited, as the appropriate treatment for mild to moderate hypoglycaemia, and states that sucrose is unsuitable for rapid correction. Severe hypoglycaemia may require intravenous glucose or glucagon.
No suggested links are held for this record, so nothing is hidden from this path.
What we know
The record describes 6 steps from taking it to an effect in a person.
How we know it
Each step names the study behind it in the technical detail beside it.
What this does not prove
A change inside the body is a reason to look. It is not a result in a person.
Why it matters
A reader can see exactly where the chain stops being measured in people.
What we still do not know
No reviewed claim binds any of these steps to a named population.
What it would be like to take◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
Felt, measured, or meaningful
Three different things that get called the same word. Registered studies measured all three, and mixing them is how a blood test becomes a health claim.
Felt
Things a person could notice without a test.
No registered study measured anything of this kind.
Measured
Things only a test, a scale or a device shows.
postprandial glucose excursion at the end of the study
glycosylated hemoglobin
androgen hyper responsiveness to insulin
hemoglobin a1c at week 24
hba1c
progression of fasting glucose 140
hba1c from baseline to end of treatment
data collection on body weight
data collection on blood glucose
data collection on hba1c
and 10 more.
Meaningful
Things that change how a life goes, not only a number.
cardiovascular event free survival time
A registered study says what someone planned to measure. It does not say what they found. A number moving is not the same as a life going better. The two are shown apart here.
Felt, but not shown to help. A person notices a change. No study showed it leads anywhere good.
Measured, but not felt. A number moves. The person notices nothing. Both can be true.
Measured, but not shown to matter. A number moves in the good direction. Nobody showed that lives went better.
Matters, but takes years. The result that counts may take longer than anyone would keep watching.
Names that fit none of the three (19)
amplitude glycemic excursion
oxidative stress
postprandial hyperglycemia
7 smbg
incidence of newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes
sustained virologic response
diabetic retinopathy
diabetic nephropathy
who experienced at least one adverse event
who discontinued study drug due to an adverse event
normoglycemia on therapy
glycemic control
weight reduction
glycated hemoglogin from baseline to 16 weeks of treatment
data collection on pre treatment concomitant diseases
cmax of metformin
auc of metformin
euglycemia
catecholamines
These are harms, study-process measures, or names the rules did not recognise. They are shown rather than dropped.
What it would be like to take◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
How long anything takes
Nine different lengths of time that get confused with each other. None of them is worked out from another.
Before anything is noticed.RNAWiki does not store this separately, and never works it out from another figure on this page.
Before a test result moves.RNAWiki does not store this separately, and never works it out from another figure on this page.
Before performance moves.RNAWiki does not store this separately, and never works it out from another figure on this page.
How long the result was watched.No finished study window is recorded for a study that tested this substance.
How long people took it.How long people actually took it is not stored. The study window is not the same thing.
How long people were followed.Follow-up length is not stored separately. It is never read off the study window, which would be a different thing.
How fast the body clears it. 2 hours hours
Read from the label, which states: “The plasma elimination half-life of acarbose activity is approximately 2 hours in healthy volunteers.”
How long effects linger.RNAWiki does not store this separately, and never works it out from another figure on this page.
Beyond the studies. Nothing is recorded about the long term.
The longest finished study sets the edge of what anyone measured.
A study window is not how long people took it, and neither is how long they were followed. Where RNAWiki holds only one of the three, it shows one.
What is missing or unclear◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
Were people like you studied?
RNAWiki cannot tell whether a study fits you. It can show who was in it, and where the result stops carrying.
Who was studied
People similar to this profile were included.
Adults with type 2 diabetes, alone or added to other drugs. Use is far more common in East Asia, where rice-based diets make the post-meal glucose spike a larger share of total exposure, than in North America or Europe.
Who is missing from the studies
Which groups were under-represented in the studies has not been recorded for this substance. Pregnancy, breastfeeding, children, older adults, and people with liver or kidney conditions are commonly excluded from trials; nothing here says whether they were.
What the label states about particular groups
On people who are pregnant, the label states: “The safety of Acarbose Tablets in pregnant women has not been established.”
US prescribing information · 656769ee-e292-4950-83df-a38e6b1a9d6e · read 2026-08-30
Where the result stopped carrying
The 2003 cardiovascular claim was published in JAMA, criticised in Diabetologia in 2004 as resting on selection bias, inadequate blinding and biased analysis, and refuted by the ACE trial in 2017
Nearly a third of the acarbose arm of the original prevention trial stopped treatment, against a fifth on placebo, almost entirely because of flatulence and diarrhoea
No secondary cardiovascular outcome in the ACE trial differed either — not death, not myocardial infarction, not stroke, not unstable angina, not heart failure, not renal impairment
This is a scope explorer, not a diagnosis engine.
It shows who was studied so you can see whether people similar to you were included.
RNAWiki cannot tell whether a study fits you. It can show who was in it.
What it would be like to take◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
Why it might seem to do nothing
A real effect and a noticed effect are different things. These are the recorded reasons the two come apart.
It was studied for a different goal
The studies measured something else entirely.
On this record: Some registered studies measured things that match no goal on this page.
It was studied in different people
The people in the studies were not much like the reader.
On this record: Which groups were under-represented in the studies has not been recorded for this substance. Pregnancy, breastfeeding, children, older adults, and people with liver or kidney conditions are commonly excluded from trials; nothing here says whether they were.
The evidence may simply be wrong
Small early studies often do not hold up.
On this record: RNAWiki has not yet published a reviewed conclusion for this use.
Other reasons RNAWiki checked and found nothing for (10)
A different form was studied
The studied form is not the form on the shelf. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
There was nothing to correct
Where a level is already normal, topping it up may change nothing. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
Something else had to happen too
In the studies it was paired with training, a diet or another treatment. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
The change is too small to feel
A real change can still sit below what a person notices. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
Day-to-day swing hides it
Sleep, food, stress and time of day move most numbers more than this would. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
Not enough time yet
The studies ran longer than the person has waited. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
It was not taken as studied
Missed days change the result, and studies count them. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
Something else changed at the same time
Two changes at once cannot be told apart afterwards. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
The product may not be what it says
Contents of a sold product are not always what the label states. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
No recorded reason
RNAWiki has nothing stored that would explain it. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
None of these is a reason to take more. Taking more is not a step this page ever suggests.
What it would be like to take◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
What taking it involves
The recorded facts about getting hold of it and using it. Nothing here is a suggestion about what you should do.
How it is supplied
Prescription only
❝ Quoted from a source
Where this came from
Copied from a source RNAWiki stored, with the source named.
Read from the recorded approval status.
No source is stored against this line.
Form and route
Oral tablet taken with the first bite of a meal, in 25 mg, 50 mg and 100 mg strengths
✎ Source-linked record
Where this came from
A person wrote this into the record with the study named beside it. No reviewer has signed it off.
The form and route recorded on this substance.
No source is stored against this line.
Who oversees it
RNAWiki has not recorded a supervision or regulatory status for this substance.
❝ Quoted from a source
Where this came from
Copied from a source RNAWiki stored, with the source named.
No register row and no identity class settled the question.
No source is stored against this line.
What is in the pack
1, isolated from the fermentation broth of Actinoplanes utahensis. The timing relative to food is not a convenience: the drug and the starch have to reach the enzymes together, because the inhibition is competitive and reversible. Taken away from food it has nothing to compete with and does nothing.
✎ Source-linked record
Where this came from
A person wrote this into the record with the study named beside it. No reviewer has signed it off.
Recorded notes on how this is sold and what that means for what is in the pack.
No source is stored against this line.
Where it is registered
Regulatory records are listed in the technical disclosure at the foot of this page.
# Counted from records
Where this came from
A count of rows RNAWiki holds. It describes our records, not your body.
Register entries are stored per jurisdiction and shown with their dates.
No source is stored against this line.
Why people stop
Not recorded.
∅ Nothing recorded
Where this came from
RNAWiki holds nothing here and says so rather than guessing.
No record of why people stopped taking it is stored for this substance.
No source is stored against this line.
What it would be like to take◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
What can go wrong
Sorted by where each line came from. A regulator's label and a report somebody sent in are not the same kind of fact.
·Worth asking a clinician aboutWritten into the record from the studies named on this page
Flatulence, abdominal distension and diarrhoea are the dominant adverse effects, are dose-related and meal-related, and are the usual reason for stopping. Dose-related, asymptomatic and reversible transaminase elevations occur, more commonly in women. Acarbose alone does not cause hypoglycaemia because it does not release insulin, but it increases the risk when combined with insulin or a sulfonylurea, and in that setting sucrose is unsuitable for rapid correction because its hydrolysis is inhibited — oral glucose is specified instead. The label states there have been no clinical studies establishing conclusive evidence of macrovascular risk reduction with acarbose or any other antidiabetic drug.
Nobody counted how many people took this and were fine, so this cannot be turned into a rate.
Over a long time. No completed tested study window is recorded, so long-term effects are not established by the registry record.
Groups the studies covered thinly. Which groups were under-represented in the studies has not been recorded for this substance. Pregnancy, breastfeeding, children, older adults, and people with liver or kidney conditions are commonly excluded from trials; nothing here says whether they were.
What is missing or unclear◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
Does the exact form matter?
Evidence belongs to the exact thing that was tested. A different salt, a different mixture or a different preparation is a different question.
The form that was studied
Oral tablet taken with the first bite of a meal, in 25 mg, 50 mg and 100 mg strengths
✎ Source-linked record
Where this came from
A person wrote this into the record with the study named beside it. No reviewer has signed it off.
The form used in the studies cited on this page.
No source is stored against this line.
What is sold
1, isolated from the fermentation broth of Actinoplanes utahensis. The timing relative to food is not a convenience: the drug and the starch have to reach the enzymes together, because the inhibition is competitive and reversible. Taken away from food it has nothing to compete with and does nothing.
✎ Source-linked record
Where this came from
A person wrote this into the record with the study named beside it. No reviewer has signed it off.
Recorded notes on which forms are sold and how they compare.
No source is stored against this line.
What is recorded as being sold
22 products list this as an active ingredient in the United States drug directory. 22 of them contain it and nothing else.
FDA National Drug Code directory · 52972-0035 · read 2026-08-29
They are sold as powder and tablet, taken oral.
FDA National Drug Code directory · 52972-0035 · read 2026-08-29
The regulator's established pharmacologic class for it is alpha glucosidase inhibitors [moa] and alpha-glucosidase inhibitor [epc].
FDA National Drug Code directory · 52972-0035 · read 2026-08-29
7 published labels name it as an active ingredient. 7 of them describe this substance alone, which is where its own label text on this page comes from.
US prescribing information · 656769ee-e292-4950-83df-a38e6b1a9d6e · read 2026-08-29
Those labels are classed as human prescription drug.
US prescribing information · 656769ee-e292-4950-83df-a38e6b1a9d6e · read 2026-08-29
Acarbose is oral at HOW SUPPLIED Acarbose Tablets are available as 25 mg, 50 mg or 100 mg, circular biconvex tablets., recorded as fda label in effect 2026-07-15 in the United States.
US prescribing information · 656769ee-e292-4950-83df-a38e6b1a9d6e · read 2026-08-30
Recorded price in US: 0.16972–0.27192 USD per one unit as the pricing file counts it — a tablet, capsule, patch or single item, across 12 priced products whose strengths and pack forms differ, as of 2026-08-26, paid by retail pharmacies buying the product, as surveyed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. It is not a list price, an insurance price, or what anyone pays at a counter..
Recorded source · 2026-08-26 · read 2026-08-28
Evidence carries across two names for one substance. It does not carry across a salt, a mirror form or a mixture.
What it would be like to take◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
What you could measure
This one is decided with a clinician, so this section holds questions to ask rather than a plan to run.
RNAWiki could not confidently classify this substance, so no self-experiment plan is offered.
Questions worth asking
Which of the trials of Acarbose studied people like me?
What was measured, and for how long?
Was the result a laboratory value or a health outcome?
What would we watch for, and when would we stop?
Tracking can show whether something changed for you. It cannot show what caused it.
RNAWiki records evidence. It does not say whether this substance is right for you.
What is missing or unclear◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
Claims that go past the evidence
Things said about this substance that sound reasonable, and the exact step that is missing between the evidence and the claim.
✗Goes past the evidence
That acarbose reduces cardiovascular events — the 2003 estimate of a 49% reduction rested on very few events in a trial a published critique found seriously flawed, and a trial six times larger found a hazard ratio of 0.98
Why it sounds right. It follows from something real on this page: a body step, an animal result or a related finding.
The missing step. Nobody measured this in people for this use, or the study that did measure it did not show it.
What would change this
A study in people, for this exact use, measuring this exact thing, that a reviewer signs off.
RNAWiki has not yet published a reviewed conclusion for this use.
✗Goes past the evidence
That flattening the post-meal glucose spike prevents macrovascular disease — ACE tested that hypothesis directly in the population where it should have been easiest to show, and found nothing
Why it sounds right. It follows from something real on this page: a body step, an animal result or a related finding.
The missing step. Nobody measured this in people for this use, or the study that did measure it did not show it.
What would change this
A study in people, for this exact use, measuring this exact thing, that a reviewer signs off.
RNAWiki has not yet published a reviewed conclusion for this use.
✗Goes past the evidence
That the diabetes-prevention effect is prevention rather than masking — conversion rose during the post-study placebo period, and no washout was built into the confirmatory trial
Why it sounds right. It follows from something real on this page: a body step, an animal result or a related finding.
The missing step. Nobody measured this in people for this use, or the study that did measure it did not show it.
What would change this
A study in people, for this exact use, measuring this exact thing, that a reviewer signs off.
RNAWiki has not yet published a reviewed conclusion for this use.
✗Goes past the evidence
That the label supports a cardiovascular claim — it states there is no conclusive evidence of macrovascular risk reduction with acarbose or any other antidiabetic drug
Why it sounds right. It follows from something real on this page: a body step, an animal result or a related finding.
The missing step. Nobody measured this in people for this use, or the study that did measure it did not show it.
What would change this
A study in people, for this exact use, measuring this exact thing, that a reviewer signs off.
RNAWiki has not yet published a reviewed conclusion for this use.
What is missing or unclear◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
What nobody knows yet
Open questions, each with why it is open and what would close it.
Missing populations
Which groups were under-represented in the studies has not been recorded.
Why it matters. Recorded by the evidence model as a gap on this record.
What would answer it
A study that measures it, and a reviewer to sign it off.
Last checked 2026-09-04. Searched: The sources listed in the receipts at the foot of this page.
Missing long-term data
No completed tested study window is recorded.
Why it matters. Recorded by the evidence model as a gap on this record.
What would answer it
A study that measures it, and a reviewer to sign it off.
Last checked 2026-09-04. Searched: The sources listed in the receipts at the foot of this page.
No reviewed conclusion
RNAWiki has not yet published a reviewed conclusion for this use.
Why it matters. Recorded by the evidence model as a gap on this record.
What would answer it
A study that measures it, and a reviewer to sign it off.
Last checked 2026-09-04. Searched: The sources listed in the receipts at the foot of this page.
Missing interaction studies
No interaction was found in the registers checked. Not finding one is not the same as showing there is none.
Why it matters. Recorded by the evidence model as a gap on this record.
What would answer it
A study that measures it, and a reviewer to sign it off.
Last checked 2026-09-04. Searched: The sources listed in the receipts at the foot of this page.
Formulation uncertainty
Several salts, forms or products of Acarbose are recorded. Results from one form may not transfer to another.
Why it matters. Recorded by the evidence model as a gap on this record.
What would answer it
A study that measures it, and a reviewer to sign it off.
Last checked 2026-09-04. Searched: The sources listed in the receipts at the foot of this page.
Mechanism not reviewed
No reviewed mechanism story exists for this substance.
Why it matters. Recorded by the evidence model as a gap on this record.
What would answer it
A study that measures it, and a reviewer to sign it off.
Last checked 2026-09-04. Searched: The sources listed in the receipts at the foot of this page.
What happened in people◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
Check any of this yourself
Every line above traced back to the study it came from. This is the technical layer, and the vocabulary changes here.
Every line above can be traced to the study named beside it. Follow the link and read it.
The 2003 claim of a 49% cardiovascular reduction did not survive being tested
In plain words
A 2003 paper reported that acarbose cut cardiovascular events by half in people with pre-diabetes, and heart attacks by 91%. A published critique in 2004 called the underlying trial seriously flawed. In 2017 a trial six times larger, designed to answer the question directly, found no effect at all.
What was measured
Hazard ratio for the five-point cardiovascular composite in 6,522 randomised patients over a median 5.0 years, against the 2003 estimate of 0.51 in 1,429 patients
Effect estimate
No reviewed effect estimate exists for this record.
Limits
See the technical detail.
From the source
Chiasson and colleagues reported in JAMA in 2003 that among 1,429 patients with impaired glucose tolerance randomised to acarbose 100 mg three times daily or placebo and followed a mean 3.3 years, cardiovascular events fell with a hazard ratio of 0.51 (95% CI 0.28 to 0.95, p=0.03), a 2.5% absolute risk reduction, with the largest component being myocardial infarction at a hazard ratio of 0.09 (95% CI 0.01 to 0.72, p=0.02) — an effect resting on a very small number of events. Kaiser and Sawicki published a systematic review of the trial documentation in Diabetologia in 2004 reporting "several serious flaws in the STOP-NIDDM study, especially selection bias, inadequate blinding, bias in data analysis and reporting, and potential sponsoring bias", and concluded that the validity of the results was seriously flawed and the clinical benefit unproven. The Acarbose Cardiovascular Evaluation trial then randomised 6,522 Chinese patients with established coronary heart disease and impaired glucose tolerance to acarbose 50 mg three times daily or placebo on top of standard secondary prevention, and followed them a median 5.0 years. The primary five-point composite occurred in 470 of 3,272 (14%) against 479 of 3,250 (15%): hazard ratio 0.98 (95% CI 0.86 to 1.11, p=0.73). No secondary cardiovascular outcome differed either.
Written into the record, not signed off as a reviewed claim
The diabetes-prevention effect held up in both trials
In plain words
The claim that did survive is the smaller one. In the original trial, 32% of the acarbose group progressed to diabetes against 42% on placebo. In the much larger 2017 trial, it was 13% against 16%. Both differences were statistically significant.
What was measured
Relative hazard and rate ratio for progression from impaired glucose tolerance to type 2 diabetes, in 1,368 and 6,522 randomised patients
Effect estimate
No reviewed effect estimate exists for this record.
Limits
See the technical detail.
From the source
STOP-NIDDM randomised 714 patients with impaired glucose tolerance to acarbose 100 mg three times daily and 715 to placebo, excluding 61 (4%) who did not have impaired glucose tolerance or had no post-randomisation data. Diabetes, defined by yearly oral glucose tolerance test, developed in 221 of 682 (32%) on acarbose and 285 of 686 (42%) on placebo: relative hazard 0.75 (95% CI 0.63 to 0.90, p=0.0015). Acarbose also significantly increased reversion of impaired glucose tolerance to normal (p<0.0001). In the ACE trial, diabetes developed in 436 of 3,272 (13%; 3.17 per 100 person-years) on acarbose against 513 of 3,250 (16%; 3.84 per 100 person-years) on placebo: rate ratio 0.82 (95% CI 0.71 to 0.94, p=0.005). Two independent trials in different populations, one in Europe and Canada and one in China, agreeing on the direction and roughly on the magnitude, is the strongest claim on this page.
Written into the record, not signed off as a reviewed claim
A third of the acarbose group left the trial, against a fifth on placebo
In plain words
In the original prevention trial, far more people stopped taking acarbose than stopped taking placebo — 31% against 19%. And when everyone was switched to placebo for three months at the end, conversion to diabetes rose. Both facts complicate the claim that the drug prevents diabetes rather than masking it.
What was measured
That the reduced conversion rate reflects prevented diabetes rather than a drug effect on the oral glucose tolerance test used to diagnose it — the post-study placebo period, in which conversion rose, is compatible with either
Effect estimate
No reviewed effect estimate exists for this record.
Limits
See the technical detail.
From the source
STOP-NIDDM reports that 211 of 682 patients (31%) in the acarbose group and 130 of 686 (19%) on placebo discontinued treatment early, with flatulence and diarrhoea the most frequent side effects of acarbose. Differential dropout of that magnitude, in a trial whose endpoint is a laboratory test administered yearly, is a route by which the two arms stop being comparable. The same paper records that at the end of the study, treatment with placebo for three months was associated with an increase in conversion of impaired glucose tolerance to diabetes — consistent with a pharmacological effect on the glucose tolerance test itself rather than with a durable change in disease trajectory. Kaiser and Sawicki flagged inadequate blinding and bias in data analysis and reporting in the same trial. The ACE trial, which used a lower dose and reported a smaller effect, did not resolve this question because it did not include a washout.
Written into the record, not signed off as a reviewed claim
Gas and diarrhoea are the dose-limiting effect, and they are mechanistic
In plain words
Carbohydrate that the small intestine failed to digest arrives in the large intestine, where bacteria ferment it. The result is flatulence, bloating and diarrhoea — the most common reason people stop the drug, and a direct consequence of how it works.
What was measured
Proportion of patients with gastrointestinal adverse events leading to discontinuation or dose change, and early discontinuation rates by arm
Effect estimate
No reviewed effect estimate exists for this record.
Limits
This entry records a failure.
From the source
In the ACE trial, gastrointestinal disorders were the most common adverse event associated with drug discontinuation or dose change: 215 of 3,263 patients (7%) on acarbose against 150 of 3,241 (5%) on placebo, p=0.0007. In STOP-NIDDM, at the higher 100 mg three-times-daily dose, flatulence and diarrhoea were the most frequent side effects and 31% of the acarbose arm discontinued treatment early. This is not an idiosyncratic reaction: undigested oligosaccharide reaching the colon is fermented to hydrogen, methane and short-chain fatty acids, which is the same process by which beans cause flatulence. It is therefore proportional to both the dose and the carbohydrate content of the meal, and it is the reason the drug is titrated slowly in practice.
Written into the record, not signed off as a reviewed claim
Liver enzymes rise in a dose-related way, reversibly
In plain words
In year-long American studies, treatment-emergent rises in liver enzymes were about twice as common on acarbose as on placebo at every threshold measured. They were symptomless, reversible, and more frequent in women.
What was measured
Proportion with treatment-emergent transaminase elevation at three thresholds, acarbose against placebo, in studies up to 12 months
Effect estimate
No reviewed effect estimate exists for this record.
Limits
See the technical detail.
From the source
The FDA label reports that in long-term United States studies of up to 12 months, including doses up to 300 mg three times daily, treatment-emergent elevations of serum aspartate or alanine aminotransferase above the upper limit of normal, above 1.8 times that limit, and above 3 times that limit occurred in 14%, 6% and 3% of acarbose-treated patients respectively, against 7%, 2% and 1% of placebo-treated patients. The differences were statistically significant. The label characterises the elevations as asymptomatic, reversible, more common in females, generally unassociated with other evidence of liver dysfunction, and dose related. This is a case where the label carries a clean quantified signal that the trial literature does not foreground.
Source
FDA prescribing information for acarbose tablets USP, PRECAUTIONS (Elevated Serum Transaminase Levels)
Role in the trial
Not matched to a registered study
Identity check
no open identity hold
Audit mark
verified
Review state
Written into the record, not signed off as a reviewed claim
Less than 2% of a dose is absorbed as active drug
In plain words
Almost none of this drug gets into the bloodstream in a form that still works. It acts in the gut, on enzymes lining the gut wall, and most of it leaves in the stool.
What was measured
Fraction of an oral dose absorbed as active drug, fraction of total radioactivity absorbed, and fraction excreted unabsorbed in faeces within 96 hours
Effect estimate
No reviewed effect estimate exists for this record.
Limits
See the technical detail.
From the source
In a study of six healthy men, less than 2% of an oral dose of acarbose was absorbed as active drug, while approximately 35% of total radioactivity from a carbon-14 labelled oral dose was absorbed — the difference being bacterial degradation products rather than intact drug — and an average of 51% of an oral dose was excreted in the faeces as unabsorbed drug-related radioactivity within 96 hours. The label states that acarbose does not enhance insulin secretion, in contrast to sulfonylureas, that its effect is additive to sulfonylureas, insulin or metformin because the mechanism differs, and that it diminishes the insulinotropic and weight-increasing effects of sulfonylureas. It has no inhibitory activity against lactase and would not be expected to induce lactose intolerance.
Source
FDA prescribing information for acarbose tablets USP, CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY and Pharmacokinetics
Role in the trial
Not matched to a registered study
Identity check
no open identity hold
Audit mark
verified
Review state
Written into the record, not signed off as a reviewed claim
How many documents were read
7 documents were read for this substance.
RNAWiki source record
7 of them state the same halfLife, and they agree.
RNAWiki source record
7 of them state the same bioavailability, and they agree.
RNAWiki source record
7 of them state the same tMax, and they agree.
RNAWiki source record
Where else this substance is registered
FDA substance identifier (UNII)
T58MSI464G
RxNorm concept
199149
Checks this page had to pass
✓ Passed
Identity resolved
no open identity hold
✓ Passed
No unresolved merge across substance families
no quarantine open
✓ Passed
Every public sentence names a source
The opening statement carries the origin: Written into the record, not signed off.
✗ Not passed
Trial roles classified for highlighted evidence
No registered study is classified as testing this substance.
✓ Passed
No internal keys in reader text
enforced by the copy-contract test over the rendered page
✗ Not passed
Safety mode resolved
No register row and no identity class settled the question.
✓ Passed
Canonical metadata present
slug and display name present
What is missing or unclear◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
How this medicine reached us
Kept near the foot of the page. A historical event moves up only when it changes something about this substance today.
What the approval register records
9 approved applications cover products containing this substance. The earliest was NDA020482, approved 19950906 to BAYER HLTHCARE.
This order is fixed in code and does not count clicks or time on the page.
What is not here
3 questions this page could not answer
These sections were prepared and left out because there was nothing to put in them. They are listed rather than hidden, so the gaps in this record are visible.
What it may clash with — found nothing in the sources checked.
Other ways to the same goal — found nothing in the sources checked.
What changed on this page — found nothing in the sources checked.
The record as stored
The full record, for auditing
Everything above is built from what is below. This layer keeps the technical vocabulary, record identifiers and every stored row, so a reader who wants to check the page can.
The older medicine-wide conclusion held in this record
Written for a clinical reader, and about the medicine as a whole rather than about one indication, population and set of trials. RNAWiki does not treat it as a programme conclusion and no reviewer has signed it off in that form. It is here word for word because it is what the record holds.
A bacterial oligosaccharide that competitively blocks the intestinal enzymes which turn starch into glucose, of which less than 2% is absorbed as active drug — which reduced conversion of impaired glucose tolerance to diabetes by 25% in 1,429 randomised patients and by 18% in 6,522 more, and whose widely cited 2003 claim of a 49% reduction in cardiovascular events was refuted by a hazard ratio of 0.98 when the question was finally tested properly.
Recorded evidence blocks (13)
Q1
What did Acarbose's largest trial (1499650 people) and its longest (15 years) measure?
1499650 people in Acarbose's largest registered study, 15 years in its longest registered window, measuring Cardiovascular event free survival time. ClinicalTrials.gov · 2026-09-01
36 phase4, 14 phase3, 9 na or unstated, 7 na, 7 phase1, 7 phase2, 1 early phase1; NCT01019356; 2021-07. Last human test completed 2025, NCT07436585.
Interpretation These counts include studies where Acarbose was a comparison treatment, a background treatment or an exposure in an observational study, and the longest window may be a planned end date. Trial roles have not yet been classified for this record.
Show the evidence
phase4
36
phase3
14
na or unstated
9
na
7
phase1
7
phase2
7
2 more recorded rows
early phase1
1
Last recorded human testNCT07436585
2025-12-10
recorded 2026-09-01 · last checked 2026-09-04
Q2
From C. elegans to human: where has Acarbose shown lifespan?
2099 mice; cohorts C2009, C2012, C2013, C2017; cohort rows are the workbook's own printed values; no median, percent change or survival statistic is derived from the per-animal data
Show the evidence
ITP cohort
C2009
acarbose; 1000.0; 4.0 months; f, m; ITP_C2009_Lifespan.xlsx
C2012
acarbose; 1000; 16.0 months; f, m; ITP_C2012_Lifespan.xlsx
C2013
acarbose; 2500; 8.0 months; f, m; ITP_C2013_Lifespan.xlsx
C2013
acarbose; 400; 8.0 months; f, m; ITP_C2013_Lifespan.xlsx
C2013
acarbose; 1000; 8.0 months; f, m; ITP_C2013_Lifespan.xlsx
C2017
rapamycin plus acarbose; Rapa: 14.7 and ACA: 1000; 16.0 months; f, m; ITP_C2017_Lifespan.xlsx
1 more recorded row
ITP cohortC2017
rapamycin plus acarbose; Rapa: 14.7 and ACA: 1000; 9.0 months; f, m; ITP_C2017_Lifespan.xlsx
recorded 2026-09-04 · last checked 2026-09-04
Q4
8 of Acarbose's trials stopped: futility/efficacy, accrual/recruitment, funding/business, other?
futility/efficacy (1), accrual/recruitment (3), funding/business (2) and other (2): Acarbose's stop wording, clustered. ClinicalTrials.gov · 2026-09-01
"poor recruitment and no student currently interested in working on this project."; 8 of 81 registered studies
Show the evidence
Trial
NCT00677521
terminated; "poor recruitment and no student currently interested in working on this project."
NCT01514838
terminated; "Discontinued due to company's strategic reason"
NCT02072096
terminated; "The trial was terminated per protocol because of lack of feasibility."
NCT02953093
terminated; "Upon review it was determined that the study terminated early due to lack of funding. Study never reached enrollment target and was administratively closed out by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine IRB."
NCT03344341
terminated; "Study overall progress behind of scheduled timeline. Study was terminated early due to company decision."
NCT03380546
terminated; "difficulty in recruiting"
2 further recorded trials
NCT04180813
terminated; "Study enrollment did not meet expectation."
NCT05487859
withdrawn; "due to overall cost of the study"
recorded 2026-09-01 · last checked 2026-09-04
Q5
Mouse studies of Acarbose used 1000 ppm — over how long?
Mouse studies of Acarbose used "1000 ppm". clinicaltrials.gov+jax-mpd-itp · 2026-09-04
10 recorded entries; mouse, human; also "400 (lo), 1000 (mid), and 2500 (hi) ppm", "Rapa: 14.7 ppm and ACA: 1000 ppm", "Acarbose 50 mg"
Show the evidence
mouse
acarbose C2009
1000 ppm
acarbose C2012
1000 ppm
acarbose C2013
400 (lo), 1000 (mid), and 2500 (hi) ppm
acarbose C2013
400 (lo), 1000 (mid), and 2500 (hi) ppm
acarbose C2013
400 (lo), 1000 (mid), and 2500 (hi) ppm
rapamycin plus acarbose C2017
Rapa: 14.7 ppm and ACA: 1000 ppm
1 more recorded row
mouserapamycin plus acarbose C2017
Rapa: 14.7 ppm and ACA: 1000 ppm
human
NCT00928889
Acarbose 50 mg
NCT03383068
Acarbose 100 MG
NCT05542849
Acarbose Tablets 50mg
recorded 2026-09-04 · last checked 2026-09-04
Q6
Acarbose's half-life is 2 hours — which schedules were studied?
2 hours, the half-life Acarbose's label states. openfda-label · 1ba7a072-03b0-41f2-be7a-101145bdef3a · 2026-08-30
bioavailability 16% %.
Show the evidence
half life
2 hours hours; The plasma elimination half-life of acarbose activity is approximately 2 hours in healthy volunteers.
bioavailability
16% %; Acarbose Tablets may affect digoxin bioavailability and may require dose adjustment of digoxin by 16% (90% confidence interval: 8-23%), decrease mean C max of digoxin by 26% (90% confidence interval: 16-34%) and decreases mean trough concentrations of digoxin by 9% (90% confidence limit: 19% decrease to 2% increase).
metabolism
Metabolism Acarbose is metabolized exclusively within the gastrointestinal tract, principally by intestinal bacteria, but also by digestive enzymes.
recorded 2026-08-30 · last checked 2026-09-04
Q7
Could one person measure Acarbose's effect on cardiovascular event free survival time?
Cardiovascular event free survival time: measured in Acarbose's trials.
Interpretation cardiovascular event free survival time is the recorded endpoint.
incidence of newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes; 2026-09-01
14 more recorded rows
biomarkers
postprandial glucose excursion at the end of the study; 2026-09-01
biomarkers
glycosylated hemoglobin; 2026-09-01
biomarkers
androgen hyper responsiveness to insulin; 2026-09-01
biomarkers
sustained virologic response; 2026-09-01
biomarkers
diabetic retinopathy; 2026-09-01
biomarkers
diabetic nephropathy; 2026-09-01
biomarkers
hemoglobin a1c at week 24; 2026-09-01
biomarkers
who experienced at least one adverse event; 2026-09-01
biomarkers
who discontinued study drug due to an adverse event; 2026-09-01
biomarkers
normoglycemia on therapy; 2026-09-01
biomarkers
hba1c; 2026-09-01
biomarkers
glycemic control; 2026-09-01
biomarkers
weight reduction; 2026-09-01
biomarkers
progression of fasting glucose 140; 2026-09-01
half life
2026-09-04; halfLife; hours; 2 hours; 2026-08-30
human trials at or under30
13
smallest human trial
0; NCT05487859; PHASE2; the smallest recorded human enrolment at or below 30; the registry states no direction of its result; WITHDRAWN
Q8
Which of 7 smbg, amplitude glycemic excursion and androgen hyper responsiveness to insulin did Acarbose's trials measure?
7 smbg, amplitude glycemic excursion and androgen hyper responsiveness to insulin lead 40 outcome terms across Acarbose's trials. ClinicalTrials.gov · 2026-09-01
postprandial hyperglycemia, 7 smbg, incidence of newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes, postprandial glucose excursion at the end of the study, glycosylated hemoglobin and androgen hyper responsiveness to insulin follow.
Show the evidence
cardiovascular event free survival time
1
amplitude glycemic excursion
1
oxidative stress
1
postprandial hyperglycemia
1
7 smbg
1
incidence of newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes
1
14 more recorded rows
postprandial glucose excursion at the end of the study
1
glycosylated hemoglobin
1
androgen hyper responsiveness to insulin
1
sustained virologic response
1
diabetic retinopathy
1
diabetic nephropathy
1
hemoglobin a1c at week 24
1
who experienced at least one adverse event
1
who discontinued study drug due to an adverse event
1
normoglycemia on therapy
1
hba1c
1
glycemic control
1
weight reduction
1
progression of fasting glucose 140
1
recorded 2026-09-01 · last checked 2026-09-04
Q9
Which of Acarbose's 2 ongoing trials reports first?
HbA1c; the changes in cerebral blood flow shown by fMRI; latest 2027-07-30
Show the evidence
Trial
NCT07122102
"A Multicenter, Randomized, Open-Label, Parallel-Controlled Clinical Study Comparing the Efficacy and Safety of Cofrogliptin Versus Acarbose in Drug-Naïve Patients With Type 2 Diabetes"; n 200; "HbA1c"; 2027-07-30
NCT07711171
"Efficacy and Safety of Canagliflozin in the Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes With Mild Cognitive Impairment"; n 60; "the changes in cerebral blood flow shown by fMRI"; 2026-10-30
recorded 2026-09-01 · last checked 2026-09-04
Q10
Which 39 trials of Acarbose posted no result?
Posted no result
39 of 39 completed trials
Registrations
NCT01470937, NCT00558883, NCT01010100, NCT00437918, NCT01167231 and NCT01279512, and 33 more
Completion dates
oldest 2004-09; newest 2023-02-16
Show the evidence
Trial
NCT01470937
2004-09
NCT00558883
2007-05
NCT01010100
2007-05
NCT00437918
2008-03
NCT01167231
2008-06
NCT01279512
2008-12
14 further recorded trials
NCT01613105
2008-12
NCT00417729
2009-01
NCT01612741
2009-01
NCT00221156
2009-04
NCT00909051
2010-12-31
NCT01388153
2011-08
NCT01624116
2011-09
NCT00970528
2012-03
NCT01554631
2012-05
NCT01242202
2012-05-25
NCT01248481
2012-07
NCT01728740
2012-12
NCT02043886
2014-05
NCT02355509
2014-07
Q11
At the median, Acarbose's trials enrolled 153.5 people — anything larger?
Median enrolment
153.5
Largest enrolment
1499650
Registered trials counted
80
Q12
Was Acarbose studied with fasting?
fasting is named in Acarbose's label sentences: "Subclinical glucose dysregulation, a contributor to accelerated vascular aging, is undetectable by conventional screening in apparently healthy individuals; even within the normal glycemic range, postprandial glucose excursions promote endothelial injury and inflammatory pathways independently of…" openfda-label+europepmc · 2026-08-06
1 recorded statement; fasting
Show the evidence
fasting
Subclinical glucose dysregulation, a contributor to accelerated vascular aging, is undetectable by conventional screening in apparently healthy individuals; even within the normal glycemic range, postprandial glucose excursions promote endothelial injury and inflammatory pathways independently of mean glucose levels. <i>Hypothesis:</i> Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM)-guided metabolic…
recorded 2026-08-06 · last checked 2026-09-04
Q13
What is recorded about Acarbose and NAD+?
"These signal pathways could be targeted by many anti-aging drugs, with the corresponding representatives of rapamycin, metformin, acarbose, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD<sup>+</sup>), lithium, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), respectively." — where Acarbose and NAD+ appear together. Europe PMC · pathway abstract search · 2024-06-05
"These signal pathways could be targeted by many anti-aging drugs, with the corresponding representatives of rapamycin, metformin, acarbose, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD<sup>+</sup>), lithium, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), respectively."
mTOR
"Unlike rapamycin, acarbose rescues disease phenotypes independently of mTOR inhibition."
AMPKPMID 38903985
"Furthermore, the combined metabolites showed adequate <i>in silico</i> predictions (α-amylase, α-glucosidase, and pancreatic lipase for improving starch digestion; SGLT-2, AMPK, glucokinase, aldose reductase, acetylcholinesterase, and acetylcholine M2 receptor for mediating glucose absorption; GLP-1R, DPP-IV, and PPAR-γ for regulating insulin sensitivity), <i>in vitro</i> α-amylase inhibition,…"
mTORPMID 31903726
"The ITP found rapamycin, an inhibitor to the pro-growth mTORC1 (mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1) pathway, improved survival and it suppressed tumors in Apc<sup>+/Min</sup> mice providing a plausible rationale to ask if acarbose had a similar effect."
AMPK
PMID 27924924
"In addition, acarbose restored p-AMPK and iNOS levels in AMPK inhibitor- and iNOS inhibitor-treated A7r5 cells, respectively."
PMID 27924924
"In conclusion, acarbose can pleiotropically inhibit rabbit atherosclerosis by reducing inflammation, senescence, and VSMCs proliferation/migration via upregulating AMPK signals."
IGF-1PMID 25645154
"Here, we used SAMP8 mice, the excellent animal model of aging and AAMI, to study the effect of long-term treatment with acarbose, an inhibitor of a-glucosidase, on AAMI and explore whether blood glucose, insulin/IGF-1 system and H4K8ac are associated with potential effects."
autophagyPMID 25389129
"The correlation between the two processes, vesicle accumulation and autophagy induction, was confirmed by treatment of cells with sucrose plus invertase, or maltose plus acarbose-the α-glucosidase inhibitor-and by sucrose deprivation."
IGF-1PMID 15511128
"Adjunctive therapies can be grouped into the following categories based on their putative mechanism of action: enhancement of insulin action (e.g. the biguanides and thiazolidinediones), alteration of gastrointestinal nutrient delivery (e.g. acarbose and amylin), and other targets of action (e.g. pirenzepine and insulin-like growth factor-1 [IGF-1], which reduce growth hormone secretion, and…"
recorded 2024-06-05 · last checked 2026-09-04
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