Metformin: not just a diabetes treatment

Metformin has underpinned type 2 diabetes care for more than six decades, valued for its glucose-lowering efficacy, low cost and tolerability [1]. Metformin acts in multiple ways: reducing glucose absorption in the gut, promoting peripheral glucose uptake, decreasing fasting insulin levels, and improving insulin sensitivity.

Yet its clinical story is no longer confined to glycaemic control. As interest in drug repurposing accelerates, this editorial examines emerging areas of research and suggests that metformin may influence a wide range of biological pathways relevant to metabolic health, ageing, cancer, and neurodegenerative diseases.