One of the Action in Diabetes and Vascular Disease (ADVANCE) study leaders, Stephen MacMahon from the institute said: 'These results represent an important step forward in health care for the millions of people with diabetes worldwide. This treatment reduced the likelihood of dying from the complications of diabetes by almost one-fifth, with virtually no side-effects.'

Approximately 250 million people are living with diabetes across the world, most of whom will eventually be killed or disabled by the complications of their condition. Kidney disease also affects a large proportion.

In 2006, the United Nations (UN) issued a statement calling for increased international action to combat the global epidemic of diabetes.

Previous research published by the institute has shown that almost three quarters of India's population is set for an epidemic of diabetes. In a large-scale survey of rural India, 13 percent of adults aged 30 or above were found to have diabetes in a developing area of Andhra Pradesh with 16 percent more exhibiting features of pre-diabetes. The escalating problem of diabetes in urban India is also well documented.

A total of 11,140 patients with diabetes from 20 countries worldwide participated in the project that went on for four years and three months. Half received daily treatment with a single tablet containing a fixed combination of two blood pressure lowering drugs (perindopril and indapamide) and half received matching inactive placebos.

John Chalmers, the author of previous international guidelines for the treatment of high blood pressure and chairman of the study management group, said: 'The results clearly demonstrate that we have the tools to blunt the impact of the global diabetes epidemic facing rich and poor countries alike.'

Nikhil Tandon from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), who played a key role in the investigation said: 'The ADVANCE study is the largest clinical trial ever performed in patients with Type 2 diabetes, with over 11,000 patients worldwide, and will provide important information for India about the effects of blood pressure lowering in a broad cross-section of high-risk individuals with Type 2 diabetes. This is important as India is estimated to have 30-35 million people with diabetes.'

Anushka Patel, study director from The George Institute, said: 'In absolute terms, one death would be avoided for every 79 patients treated with the fixed combination of perindopril and indapamide for five years. The risk of coronary heart disease events was reduced by 14 percent and the risk of new or worsening kidney disease was reduced by 21 percent.'