Pharmacotherapeutic group: Drugs used in diabetes, blood glucose lowering drugs excl. insulins, sulfonylureas, ATC code: A10BB07.
Glipizide is an oral blood -glucose -lowering drug of the sulfonylurea class. The primary mode of action of glipizide is the stimulation of insulin secretion from the beta-cells of pancreatic islet tissue. Stimulation of insulin secretion by glipizide in response to a meal is of major importance. Fasting insulin levels are not elevated even on long-term glipizide administration, but the post-prandial insulin response continues to be enhanced after at least 6 months of treatment. The insulinotropic response to a meal occurs within 30 minutes after oral dose of glipizide in diabetic patients, but elevated insulin levels do not persist beyond the time of the meal challenge. There is also increasing evidence that extrapancreatic effects involving potentiation of insulin action form a significant component of the activity of glipizide.
Blood sugar control persists for up to 24 hours after a single dose of glipizide, even though plasma levels have declined to a small fraction of peak levels by that time (see section 5.2).
