Voglibose

Voglibose is an alpha-glucosidase inhibitor used for lowering postprandial blood glucose levels in people with diabetes mellitus. Voglibose is a research product of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, Japan's largest pharmaceutical company. Voglibose was discovered in 1981, and was first launched in Japan in 1994, under the trade name BASEN, to improve postprandial hyperglycemia in diabetes mellitus.
Postprandial hyperglycemia is primarily due to first phase insulin secretion. Alpha glucosidase inhibitors delay glucose absorption at the intestine level and thereby prevent sudden surge of glucose after a meal.
There are three major drugs which belong to this class, acarbose, miglitol and voglibose, of which voglibose is the newest.

Efficacy

A Cochrane systematic review assessed the effect of alpha-glucosidase inhibitors in people with impaired glucose tolerance, impaired fasting blood glucose, elevated glycated hemoglobin A1c. It was found that there was no conclusive evidence that voglibose compared to diet and exercise or placebo reduced incidence of diabetes mellitus type 2, improved all-cause mortality, reduced or increased risk of cardiovascular mortality, serious or non-serious adverse events, non-fatal stroke, congestive heart failure, or non-fatal myocardial infarction.