Actos
Meaning of Actos: Actos is the brand name for pioglitazone, an oral medication that improves the body's response to insulin in type 2 diabetes.
Definition of Actos
Actos is a brand name for pioglitazone, an oral medication used to improve blood glucose control in type 2 diabetes. It belongs to a class of drugs called thiazolidinediones, which work by making the body's own tissues, particularly muscle and fat, more responsive to insulin rather than by increasing the amount of insulin the pancreas produces.
By improving insulin sensitivity, pioglitazone helps cells take up glucose from the bloodstream more effectively, lowering blood sugar levels gradually rather than producing an immediate effect. It is generally taken once daily and can be used alone or combined with other diabetes medications.
Pioglitazone requires monitoring because thiazolidinediones can cause fluid retention, which may worsen heart failure, and have been associated with changes in bone density, factors that are weighed against the medication's benefit for blood sugar control.
Also known as
Used in a sentence
Actos was prescribed to help control the patient's blood glucose levels alongside diet and exercise.
Good to know
Actos refers to the same medication as pioglitazone, and the two names are sometimes mistakenly treated as different drugs when a patient's records list one name and a pharmacy label uses the other.