Achieving the composite end-point of glycated hemoglobin <7.0% without weight gain or hypoglycemia with once-weekly dulaglutide in Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes: A post-hoc analysis

Abstract

Aims/introduction: To assess the effect of dulaglutide (DU) 1.5/0.75 mg in comparison with glimepiride (GLIM) or insulin glargine (GLAR) on the composite end-point in Chinese type 2 diabetes patients.

Materials and methods: Post-hoc analyses of two randomized phase III trials (NCT01644500 and NCT01648582) were carried out using Fisher's exact test. The primary composite end-point was the number of patients reaching glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) <7.0%, without weight gain and hypoglycemia. Secondary composite end-points included the number of patients reaching HbA1c <7.0% without weight gain and HbA1c <7.0% without hypoglycemia.

Results: Data of 1,147 Chinese type 2 diabetes patients were analyzed (NCT01644500 = 556; NCT01648582 = 591). In each analyzed trial, 40-48% of patients received DU (1.5 mg), 30-39% of patients received DU (0.75 mg) and 15-20% of patients on active comparators (GLIM/GLAR) reached the primary composite end-point at week 26 (P < 0.001 for DU vs GLIM/GLAR). At 52 weeks, 26% of patients that received DU (1.5 mg), 23% of patients that received DU (0.75 mg) and 7% of patients that received GLAR attained the primary composite end-point (P < 0.001 for DU vs GLAR). A similar trend of results was found for secondary composite end-points.

Conclusions: Dulaglutide is found to be an effective therapeutic alternative for Chinese type 2 diabetes patients. Compared with GLIM/GLAR, significantly greater proportions of patients on DU attained the HbA1c target of <7.0% without weight gain or hypoglycemia.

Keywords: Composite end-point; Dulaglutide; Type 2 diabetes.