NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Treatment with a drug called anakinra improves blood glucose levels and the secretion of insulin by the beta-cells of the pancreas in patients with type 2 diabetes, new research shows.

Anakinra, also known by the brand name Kineret, blocks an inflammatory compound in the body called interleukin 1 and is usually used to treat arthritis. Lab findings, however, indicate that it might be helpful in people with type 2 diabetes by protecting beta-cells from glucose-induced impairment.

Dr. Marc Y. Donath, from the University Hospital in Zurich, Switzerland, and colleagues assessed the outcomes of 70 patients with type 2 diabetes who were given anakinra or an inactive placebo daily for 13 weeks. The results appear in this week's New England Journal of Medicine.

Patients in the anakinra group achieved an A1C level -- an indicator of long term glucose control -- that was 46 percent lower than that of patients given the placebo.

No serious side effects were observed in anakinra users and none of them developed excessively low blood glucose levels, the researchers point out.