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Liraglutide-metformin combo superior to either treatment alone for weight loss in PCOS
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SAN FRANCISCO — Short-term combination liraglutide and metformin yielded significant weight loss among obese women with polycystic ovary syndrome, Mojca Jensterle Sever, MD, PhD, of the University Medical Center in Ljubljana, Slovenia, told Endocrine Today here at ENDO 2013.
“Obesity is a great problem in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and we do not have a conventional satisfactory treatment for it. The most widely used drug is metformin for women with PCOS and metabolic disturbances, but it’s somehow not successful enough to curb obesity. That’s why we tried to use our experience with diabetes to test long-acting GLP-1 agonists for any effect on the PCOS population,” Jenterle Sever said in an interview.
She and colleagues conducted a 12-week open, metformin-controlled trial by randomly assigning 36 obese women with PCOS aged 31.3 years (BMI 37.1 kg/m2) to one of the following treatment arms: metformin 1,000 mg twice daily (n=14), liraglutide (Victoza, Novo Nordisk) 1.2-mg administered daily subcutaneously (n=11) or combined therapy (n=11).
Jensterle Sever said that 38% of patients lost ≥5% body weight (22% in the combination group, 16% in the liraglutide group and zero in the metformin group). Patients assigned to combination therapy lost an average of 6.5 kg vs. 3.8 kg among those in the liraglutide group and 1.2 kg in the metformin group (P<.001), according to data.
Patients in the combination group also demonstrated a greater decrease in BMI and waist circumference compared with the other two treatment groups, according to data.
“We found that this combined arm was more successful in reducing weight, BMI and waist circumference as compared with liraglutide and metformin treatment arm alone.”
Adverse events included nausea during liraglutide treatment. However, this effect gradually declined over time and was not correlated with weight loss, Jensterle Sever said.
These findings suggest that short-term combined treatment of liraglutide and metformin led to statistically significant weight loss in obese women with PCOS. – by Samantha Costa
For more information:
Jensterle Sever M. #SUN-517. Presented at: The Endocrine Society Annual Meeting and Expo; June 15-18, 2013; San Francisco.
Disclosure: Jensterle Sever and the other researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.