Early detection and appropriate intervention for preventing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD) were the overarching messages from the Bayer Schering Pharma (BSP) Satellite Symposium at the World Congress for the Prevention of Diabetes and its Complications (WCPD) 2008, held in Helsinki, Finland. More than 150 delegates actively participated in the symposium ‘Preventing diabetes and cardiovascular disease – entering a new era with acarbose’, before the official start of the congress. It was part of BSP’s new campaign, “We Take Diabetes To Heart”, showing their commitment to advance the understanding of heart disease management and prevention in patients with elevated blood glucose levels. A panel of highly respected experts in the field of diabetology and cardiology, including Antonio Ceriello (UK), Jean-Louis Chiasson (Canada), Lars Rydén (Sweden), Ilhan Satman (Turkey) and Rury Holman (UK), presented evidence to explain the importance of targeting postprandial hyperglycaemia – fundamental to the development of type 2 diabetes and CVD – and how this can be achieved with acarbose (Glucobay) intervention.

Chaired by Jaakko Tuomilehto (Finland), the programme examined the epidemiological and molecular evidence for the development of postprandial hyperglycaemia, the relationship with CVD, the recommendations from guidelines for managing hyperglycaemia in patients with CVD. An example from daily clinical practice in Turkey demonstrated how recommendations from adapted guidelines can be effective when implemented appropriately. Jean-Louis Chiasson gave a comprehensive overview of the wealth of clinical evidence supporting the benefits of acarbose for preventing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular complications – supporting the rationale for the Acarbose Cardiovascular Evaluation (ACE). The programme culminated with a summary of the ACE trial, which will examine the benefits of acarbose intervention in individuals with confirmed CVD and prediabetes (impaired glucose tolerance [IGT]). As Rury Holman explained, it is hoped the study will contribute to the evidence supporting the link between prediabetes and CVD, and therefore further highlight the need to manage prediabetes effectively and as early as possible.

Delegate participation was facilitated by key pad voting with questions supporting the presentations throughout the programme, as well as a patient case study. The voting results confirmed that increasingly, physicians are considering glycaemic control as part of a cardiovascular risk management strategy. At the end of the programme the name of one lucky registered participant was randomly selected by Professor Tuomilehto to attend the International Diabetes Federation meeting in Montreal, Canada 2009, with travel and registration costs courtesy of BSP.

To maximise media awareness of the new campaign “We Take Diabetes To Heart” and the ACE trial, the symposium was accompanied by various communication activities, including a press release distributed globally after the symposium. In addition, BSP invited selected medical journalists to attend the symposium – giving them the opportunity to have one-to-one discussions with the speakers – from which published articles are expected in the near future. All attending journalists received a tailored and campaign-branded media kit with important background information on the correlation between prediabetes and CVD, and also on acarbose and the new ACE trial. The media kit content was also made available to country-specific BSP product managers to support local media outreach. As always, the BSP exhibition booth provided further opportunity for congress delegates to learn about the benefits of intervention with Glucobay through a series of publications, information panels and a new interactive game.