New guidelines for treating Type 2 diabetes call for the use of one of the newer diabetes medicines rather than Metformin in order to help reduce weight and protect the heart and kidneys. Many people suffer from hypertension, kidney disease and obesity along with Type 2 diabetes so this should be welcome news that these new drugs can help with that. “It’s a fundamental departure from the classical approach of trying to fix the blood sugars, which is what we used to focus on because it’s all we could really do,” Dr. Marie McDonnell, director of the diabetes program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, told the Wall Street Journal. The new drugs belong to two classes known by the acronyms SGLT-2 and GLP-1. The changes are being made so doctors can tailor the drug to the patient, rather than have a one-size-fits-all strategy, according to Dr. Nuha Ali El Sayed, an endocrinologist at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston. He is also VP of healthcare improvement at the American Diabetes Association.