I HEARD THEY CAME OUT WITH A NEW MEDICATION THAT REVERSES THE NERVE
DAMAGE IN THE FEET CAUSED BY DIABETES. IF THIS IS TRUE, COULD YOU
PLEASE GIVE ME THE NAME OF IT.   THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME.  DOUG
PREZZANO

I believe you are referring to fidarestat.  The article is titled
'Clinical efficacy of fidarestat, a novel aldose reductase inhibitor,
for diabetic peripheral neuropathy: a 52-week multicenter
placebo-controlled double-blind parallel group study' (Yes, that WHOLE
thing is just the title!), by Hotta N, Toyota T, Matsuoka K, Shigeta
Y, Kikkawa R, Kaneko T, Takahashi A, Sugimura K, Koike Y, Ishii J,
Sakamoto N; The SNK-860 Diabetic Neuropathy Study Group, at
Third Department of Internal Medicine, Nagoya University School of
Medicine, Nagoya, Japan. Here is their email: 
hotta@chubuh.rofuku.go.jp.

It was published in Diabetes Care 2002 Feb;25(2):413-4.  The online
version is available for a fee.  You may find the journal itself at a
medical school library.  Here is the page:

http://care.diabetesjournals.org/cgi/content/full/24/10/1776

In case the dynamic link doesn't work, go to the main site

http://care.diabetesjournals.org

and select "Search for Articles". You will see several search boxes. 
All you need to do is type the word fidarestat into the box labeled
"Word(s) in Title or Abstract".  That brings the abstract right up. 
From there if you elect full text you will be asked to sign up.  Just
watch the spelling of fidarestat; I typed it wrong the first time and
got nothing.

Regards,

historybuff

This article may also be of interest:

"ADA: A "Breakthrough" for Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy" 
http://www.diabetesincontrol.com/issue110/item14.shtml

"This is a potential breakthrough in diabetes treatment," said Anne
Meyer, M.D., an endocrinologist and diabetes specialist practicing in
San Francisco. "We can really begin for the first time to talk about
stopping and healing nerve damage caused by this terrible disease."

Based upon results collected to date, the manufacturer of the
compound, Eli Lilly and Company, will conduct three new global trials
studying diabetic peripheral neuropathy. This will make six Phase 3
trials underway using LY333531. The three new trials will begin this
year. Lilly plans to file with the FDA in 2004 for approval of
LY333531 for the treatment of symptoms of diabetic peripheral
neuropathy."

Thanks to both of you for the links - family has Diabetic Peripheral
Neuropathy, and it's good to know there is some hope for them.

You may also want to look at the article "Symptomatic Reversal Of
Peripheral Neuropathy In Diabetic Patients", that I found at
http://www.bioscanlight.com/word_3studies_i4_NN_343_21_eye1_56/REVERSAL_OF_PERIPHERAL_NEUROPATHY_article.htm.
There seems to be several copies of similar articles by the same team.
The article is also referred to on the neuropathy page by Rick Mendosa
at http://www.diabetesmonitor.com/neuro.htm.

I was looking for a specific article that would give specific figures
about improving blood glucose control and what that might do for
neuropathy. I recall reading that tighter control can, in some cases,
reverse neuropathic damage. Since I am not a medical doctor, you
should probably do more investigation on this yourself.

Good luck.