Results are scheduled to be presented on Dec. 4th from a four-year study, conducted at 300 centers in North America and Europe, designed to determine whether new diabetes drug Avandia is more effective than older, cheaper drugs metformin and glyburide.

GlaxoSmithKline, developer of the drug which has been on the market as a treatment of type 2 diabetes since 1999. is presenting the data from the trial -- which was concluded this past June -- at the World Diabetes Congress in Cape Town, South Africa.

The study, A Diabetes Outcome Progression Trial (ADOPT), enrolled 3,600 Men and women, aged 30-75 years, with recently diagnosed type 2 diabetes who had managed up until participation in the trial without taking any drugs.

The purpose of the trial was to test whether Avandia (rosiglitazone) preserves pancreatic beta-cell function better than the two older drugs used as first-line therapy for type 2 diabetes, metformin or glyburide.

Avandia is an insulin-sensitizing drug, one of a newer new class of drugs that help insulin work better in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Industry analysts said they expected to hear that Avandia's performance was superior to that of metformin or glyburide, but with a worse side-effect profile in some areas. Like other drugs in its class, Avandia has been associated with fluid retention, which can exacerbate or lead to heart failure.