Unlike some other oral diabetes medications that cause your body to produce more insulin, ACTOS helps your body make better use of the insulin it already produces. In fact, it makes the cells in your body more sensitive to insulin. When the cells are more sensitive to insulin, the sugar that’s in your blood can pass more easily into the cells of your body where it’s really needed. In a sense, insulin acts as a key that opens the door to the cells to let the sugar in. So instead of remaining in the blood, where the sugar can build up to dangerous levels, it passes from the blood into the cells and your blood sugar goes down.

Metformin works mainly by lowering the amount of glucose made by your liver.

When combined, these medications work as a team to help lower your blood sugar toward normal range.