Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disorder that occurs in the body because of decreased insulin activity and/or insulin secretion. Pathological changes such as nephropathy, retinopathy, and cardiovascular complications inevitably occur in the body with the progression of the disease. DM is mainly categorized into 2 sub-types, type I DM and type II DM. While type I DM is generally treated through insulin replacement therapy, type II DM is treated with oral hypoglycaemics. The major drug therapy for type II DM comprises of insulin secretagogues, biguanides, insulin sensitizers, alpha glucosidase inhibitors, incretin mimetics, amylin antagonists and sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors. Dual drug therapies are often recommended in patients who are unable to achieve therapeutic goals with first line oral hypoglycaemic agents as monotherapy. Inspite of the appreciable therapeutic benefits, the conventional dosage forms depicts differential bioavailability and short half-life, mandating frequent dosage and causing greater side effects leading to therapy ineffectiveness and patient non-compliance. Given the pathological complexity of the said disease, nanotechnology-based approaches are more enticing as it comes with added advantage of site-specific drug delivery with higher bioavailability and reduced dosage regimen.

In the present review article, we have made an attempt to explore the pathophysiology of type II DM, the conventional treatment approaches (mono and combination therapy) as well as the nano based drug delivery approaches for the treatment of type II DM.