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Dapagliflozin linked to weight loss in patients with type 2 diabetes
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PHILADELPHIA — Dapagliflozin was found to reduce body weight in patients with type 2 diabetes, despite varying age, sex, baseline HbA1c, BMI, estimated glomerular filtration rate and duration of diabetes, according to data presented here at the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists 21st Annual Scientific and Clinical Congress Meeting.
Dapagliflozin is a selective inhibitor of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) associated with the reduction of plasma glucose, apart from insulin secretion or response by increasing the excretion of excess glucose. The drug is currently being studied by Bristol-Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca as a potential treatment for type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
Elise Hardy, MD, a director of clinical research at AstraZeneca., and colleagues pooled body weight data from nine double blind, randomized clinical trials of dapagliflozin (2.5 mg, 5 mg, 10 mg daily or placebo) administered to 4,047 patients with type 2 diabetes for 24 weeks.
“Dapagliflozin has previously been shown to result in weight loss across a broad range of phase 3 studies. The objective of this analysis was to determine whether the weight effect was also present within subgroups of interest,” Hardy said during a presentation.
Dapagliflozin was studied as a standalone treatment, or as an add-on to known type 2 diabetes medication options: metformin, glimepiride, pioglitazone (Actos, Takeda), insulin, or as an initial combination with metformin.
Individual studies yielded placebo-corrected change from baseline in weight ranging from –0.46 to –2.16 kg within the overall population, they said. Subgroup interactions were detected for geographic region (P=.03), race (P=.06) and ethnicity (P=.09). The study found that North Americans had greater weight loss compared with patients from Latin America, Europe and the Asia/Pacific region.
However, dapagliflozin provided an overall reduction in body weight in patients with type 2 diabetes that was evident across nearly all subgroups.
For more information:
- Hardy VE. Abstract #205. Presented at: the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists 21st Annual Scientific and Clinical Congress Meeting; May 23-27, 2012; Philadelphia.
Disclosure: Dr. Hardy is an employee and stockholder of Astra Zeneca in Wilmington, DE.