Liraglutide tops lixisenatide as add-on to metformin in T2DM

(HealthDay)—For patients with type 2 diabetes taking metformin, add-on liraglutide is more effective than lixisenatide for improving glycemic control, according to a study published online June 16 in Diabetes Care.

Michael Nauck, M.D., from the Ruhr-University Bochum in Germany, and colleagues conducted a 26-week randomized trial involving 404 patients with type 2 diabetes not achieving adequate glycemic control on metformin alone. Participants were randomized in a 1:1 ratio to liraglutide (administered once daily at any time of the day) or lixisenatide (administered once daily within one hour prior to morning or evening meal).

The researchers found that hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) was reduced more with liraglutide than lixisenatide at week 26 (estimated treatment difference −0.62 percent; P < 0.0001), with more patients reaching HbA1c <7 percent and ≤6.5 percent (both P < 0.0001). Liraglutide correlated with a greater reduction in fasting plasma glucose (estimated treatment difference, −1.15 mmol/L; P < 0.0001). There was a greater reduction in mean nine-point self-measured plasma glucose with liraglutide (P < 0.0001). Similar body weight decreases were seen for both drugs (−4.3 kg for liraglutide and −3.7 kg for lixisenatide; P = 0.23).

"At the dose levels studied, liraglutide was more effective than lixisenatide as add-on to metformin in improving glycemic control," the authors write.

Several authors disclosed financial ties to biopharmaceutical companies, including Novo Nordisk, which manufactures liraglutide and funded the study.

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