nateglinide nateglinide nateglinide (inn, trade name starlix) is a drug for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. nateglinide was developed by ajinomoto, a japanese company and sold by the swiss pharmaceutical company novartis. nateglinideclinical datatrade namesstarlixahfs/drugs.commonographmedlineplusa699057license data eu ema: by inn us fda: nateglinide routes ofadministrationoralatc codea10bx03 (who) legal statuslegal status uk: pom (prescription only) us: ℞-only pharmacokinetic dataprotein binding98%elimination half-life1.5 hoursidentifiers iupac name (2r)-2-(amino)-3-phenylpropanoic acid cas number105816-04-4 ypubchem cid60026iuphar/bps6833drugbankdb00731 ychemspider10482084 yunii41x3pwk4o2keggd01111 nchebichebi:31897 nchemblchembl286559 ncomptox dashboard (epa)dtxsid9040687 echa infocard100.170.086 chemical and physical dataformulac19h27no3molar mass317.429 g·mol−13d model (jsmol)interactive image smiles o=c(n(cc1ccccc1)c(o)=o)2cc(cc2)c(c)c inchi inchi=1s/c19h27no3/c1-13(2)15-8-10-16(11-9-15)18(21)20-17(19(22)23)12-14-6-4-3-5-7-14/h3-7,13,15-17h,8-12h2,1-2h3,(h,20,21)(h,22,23)/t15-,16-,17-/m1/s1 ykey:oelflumrdsznsf-brwvuggusa-n y ny (what is this?) (verify) nateglinide belongs to the meglitinide class of blood glucose-lowering drugs. pharmacology nateglinide lowers blood glucose by stimulating the release of insulin from the pancreas. it achieves this by closing atp-dependent potassium channels in the membrane of the β cells. this depolarizes the β cells and causes voltage-gated calcium channels to open. the resulting calcium influx induces fusion of insulin-containing vesicles with the cell membrane, and insulin secretion occurs. contraindications nateglinide is contraindicated in patients who: have known hypersensitivity to the compound or any ingredient in the formulation. are affected with type 1 (namely insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus. are in diabetic ketoacidosis. comparisons with other drugs for type 2 diabetes a study funded by novo nordisk, the u.s. distributor for repaglinide, compared their product with nateglinide in "a randomized, parallel-group, open-label, multicenter 16-week clinical trial". they concluded that the two were similar, but "repaglinide monotherapy was significantly more effective than nateglinide monotherapy in reducing hba1c and fpg values after 16 weeks of therapy." dosage nateglinide is delivered in 60 mg & 120 mg tablet form.