A study of 58 patients with type 2 diabetes found that early and intensive therapy helped preserve beta cell function for 3.5 years. In the study, published in Diabetes Care, patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes received insulin and metformin for 3 months, then were randomly assigned to one of two groups: 1) insulin plus metformin and 2) triple oral therapy (metformin, glyburide, and pioglitazone). Read more.