A study involving over 180000 people has shown that patients treated with the widely prescribed diabetic drug metformin can live longer than non-diabetics. The drug has anti-cancer and anti-cardiovascular disease benefits and can offer surprising health benefits to non-diabetics also indicates a promising research. 'What we found was illuminating. Patients treated with metformin had a small but statistically significant improvement in survival compared with non-diabetics' claimed Craig Currie professor at Cardiff University's school of medicine. 'Those treated with another common diabetes drug called sulphonylurea had a consistently reduced survival compared with non-diabetic patients' he said adding that this was true