The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 276 No 7405 p713
17 June 2006

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News summary

Novel antidiabetic drug as effective as glipizide and causes fewer hypoglycaemic episodes

A novel investigational drug for type 2 diabetes has demonstrated similar efficacy as glipizide with greater weight loss and fewer hypoglycaemic episodes, according to interim data presented at the American Diabetes Association annual scientific sessions in Washington this week.

Sitagliptin (Januvia; MSD) is a once daily oral dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor that enhances the body’s ability to lower blood glucose via the incretin system.

The study randomised 1,172 patients who were inadequately controlled on metformin alone to receive sitagliptin 100mg daily or glipizide up to 20mg daily. The 52-week per-protocol primary analysis of 793 patients showed that similar proportions of patients achieved their HbA_1c goal in each group (63 per cent for sitagliptin and 59 per cent for glipizide) with both drugs showing significant mean reductions in HbA_1c of 0.67 per cent from baseline. In addition, patients in the sitagliptin group lost a mean of 1.5kg while patients in the glipizide group gained a mean of 1.1kg. Patients treated with glipizide had a higher rate of hypoglycaemia than those in the sitagliptin group (P<0.001).