--- title: Parkinson's Breakthrough Medication: Diabetes Drugs May Offer Clues description: Two forms of diabetes medication may reduce risk of developing Parkinson's Disease, according to a new study. canonical: https://time.com/3967611/diabetes-parkinsons-disease/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-22T16:11:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:58:27.486Z article:section: Health og:title: Diabetes Drugs May Offer Hope for Parkinson's Disease Treatment og:description: Diabetes patients who took these medications had a 28% lower chance of developing Parkinson's og:url: https://time.com/3967611/diabetes-parkinsons-disease/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6ddd32b7efbf3585/69885bec5f570f408ab1c8c1/actos-glitazone.jpg?branch=production&width=600&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 600 og:image:height: 338 og:image:alt: actos glitazone og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Diabetes Drugs May Offer Hope for Parkinson's Disease Treatment twitter:description: Diabetes patients who took these medications had a 28% lower chance of developing Parkinson's twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6ddd32b7efbf3585/69885bec5f570f408ab1c8c1/actos-glitazone.jpg?branch=production&width=600&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Diabetes Drugs May Offer Hope for Parkinson's Disease Treatment ## Video: The Island That Holds the Secret to Long Life [Watch (HLS stream): The Island That Holds the Secret to Long Life](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/orlnwhNb.m3u8) (7:08)  _Published 2014-05-23. Here's how the people of Ikaria, Greece reach old age_  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Jul 22, 2015 4:11 PM UTC  Levin/Papantonio  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Jul 22, 2015 4:11 PM UTC Two forms of diabetes medication may reduce risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, according to a new [study](http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1001854). Researchers analyzed data on more than 160,000 diabetes patients in the U.K. and found that patients who took rosiglitazone or pioglitazone had a 28% lower chance of developing Parkinson’s than their counterparts who took other diabetes medication, according to the study, published in the journal _PLOS Medicine_. The drugs were originally developed by GlaxoSmithKline and Takeda, respectively, but they are now off patent. The research does not suggest that people with Parkinson’s take the diabetes drugs directly. Rather, the findings offer hope for future Parkinson’s research. “We often hear about negative side effects associated with medications, but sometimes there can also be unintended beneficial effects,” senior researcher Ian Douglas from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine [told](http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/21/health-parkinsons-idUSL5N1011WJ20150721) Reuters. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3967611/diabetes-parkinsons-disease/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3967611/diabetes-parkinsons-disease/"},"headline":"Diabetes Drugs May Offer Hope for Parkinson's Disease Treatment","datePublished":"2015-07-22T16:11:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:58:27.486Z","description":"Diabetes patients who took these medications had a 28% lower chance of developing Parkinson's","url":"https://time.com/3967611/diabetes-parkinsons-disease/","keywords":["Neuroscience"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6ddd32b7efbf3585/69885bec5f570f408ab1c8c1/actos-glitazone.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6ddd32b7efbf3585/69885bec5f570f408ab1c8c1/actos-glitazone.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"actos glitazone","caption":"actos glitazone","creditText":"Levin/Papantonio","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/neuroscience/","name":"Neuroscience"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3967611/diabetes-parkinsons-disease/","name":"Diabetes Drugs May Offer Hope for Parkinson's Disease Treatment"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Island That Holds the Secret to Long Life","description":"Here's how the people of Ikaria, Greece reach old age","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/orlnwhNb/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-05-23T20:32:12.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/orlnwhNb.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3967611/diabetes-parkinsons-disease/","duration":"PT7M8S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3967611/diabetes-parkinsons-disease/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```