Omarigliptin - Once a Week Drug Offers Convenient Treatment for Type 2 Diabetes

Diabetes is characterized by high blood sugar levels, a weekly dose of omarigliptin drug found to have similar effects as that of daily dose of sitagliptin.

Highlights

Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes in the world.
The efficacy and safety of omarigliptin, once a week drug in type 2 diabetes treatment was compared with a daily dose of sitagliptin drug.
The study results found 25mg of omarigliptin drug once a week to be an appropriate dose for treatment.

The efficacy and safety of a once-week diabetes drug omarigliptin in patients with type 2 diabetes were compared with the daily drug sitagliptin by a research team from the LMC Diabetes & Endocrinology, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

The research findings were published in the journal Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism.

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‘Weekly diabetes drug omarigliptin found to produce similar benefits as that of sitagliptin drug.’

Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors or gliptins is a class of drugs, which can be prescribed for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes that causes elevated blood sugar levels. According to the World Health Organization statistics, the number of people with diabetes increased to 422 million in 2014.

Research Study

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The research study was conducted on type 2 diabetes mellitus patients who took metformin drug for treatment. These patients had the HbA1c level between 6.5-9.0% while screening and had a fasting blood glucose level greater than 7.2 and less than 14.4mmol/liter at randomization.

The research study was conducted at 97 sites in 13 countries that include 6 in Argentina, 6 in Canada, 1 in Croatia, 5 in Estonia, 5 in Georgia, 10 in Hungary, 4 in Israel, 5 in Malaysia, 4 in the Philippines, 9 in Poland, 8 in Romania, 8 in South Africa and 26 in the USA.

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A 1- week screening period, followed by a 2- week single placebo run-in period and 24-week treatment period was carried out.

After the placebo (dummy pill which has no active ingredient) period, a 1:1 ratio of either a 25mg of omarigliptin drug was given once weekly with a placebo matching sitagliptin for once daily or 100mg of sitagliptin every day with a placebo weekly dose of omarigliptin.

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Findings of the Study

The study evaluated the efficacy, safety, tolerability of omarigliptin drug for 24 weeks.The percentage of patients who received HbA1c levels of less than 7.0% and less than 6.5% were evaluated.

The study results found

Patients who took an additional once weekly omarigliptin drug 25mg had similar reductions in HbA1c level and fasting blood glucose levels when compared to a daily dose of 100mg sitagliptin.

The efficacy of controlling the blood glucose levels with DPP-4 drug inhibitors over a period of one week is found to be similar to that of daily administration.
The results also confirm that 25mg of omarigliptin drug is an appropriate dose to achieve effective treatment for type2 diabetes .

Omarigliptin Drug

It is a dipeptidyl peptidase-4 enzyme inhibitor drug which acts by regulating the incretin hormones including glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP). These hormones are involved in the physiological regulation of glucose levels.

The adverse effects of Omarigliptin drug were well tolerated and the incidence of patients reporting low blood sugar levels (hypoglycemia) was also similar with the sitagliptin group.

The drug was recently approved in Japan as a single weekly dose for diabetes treatment.

Interesting Facts on Diabetes

Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness among working adults.
Type 2 diabetes account for 85-90% of diabetes among people.
Diabetes is one of the common reasons for amputation and kidney failure.
Genetic factors, sedentary lifestyle and obesity are some of the causes for diabetes.
Diabetic patients are at an increased risk for heart diseases.

References

Ronald Goldenberg et al. ‘Randomized clinical trial comparing the efficacy and safety of treatment with the once-weekly dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitor omarigliptin or the once-daily DPP-4 inhibitor sitagliptin in patients with type 2 diabetes inadequately controlled on metformin monotherapy’, Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism (2017). DOI: 10.1111/dom.12832
What is type2 diabetes? - (http://www.hormone.org/questions-and-answers/2012/dpp-4-inhibitors)
Facts About Diabetes - (https://www.iddt.org/about/facts)
Ten Things You Might Not Know About Diabetes - (http://www.joslin.org/info/10_Things_You_Might_Not_Know_About_Diabetes.html)

Source-Medindia