Description: A drug designed to treat juvenile rheumatoid arthritis may also be helpful for managing type 2 diabetes, new research suggests.

The study found that daily injections of anakinra led to a drop in long-term levels of glucose in the blood, while they increased in people given a placebo.

"We (showed) that a 13-week treatment with anakinra improves glucose regulation and insulin production in people with type 2 diabetes," said one of the study's authors, Dr. Marc Donath, an attending physician and a professor of endocrinology and diabetes at University Hospital Zurich in Switzerland.

The study is published in the April 12 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Almost 21 million Americans -- or about 7 percent of the U.S. population -- have diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association. Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of the disease, and those most at risk for developing type 2 diabetes include people who are overw