New clinical trial results suggest that an oral GLP-1 receptor agonist, still under investigation, could offer a more practical way to manage type 2 diabetes, while simultaneously helping to control blood glucose and reduce body weight.
For millions of people living with this disease, medicines in the GLP-1 revolutionized treatment, contributing to the reduction of blood glucose and promoting, at the same time, the weight loss. However, many of the currently available therapies continue to require administration by injection, which presents a barrier for some patients.
According to , if future studies confirm these results, oral medications such as elecoglipron could expand access to one of the most important therapeutic classes in the treatment of diabetes in the last decade.
The new one, published this Monday in The Lancetinvolved 406 adults with type 2 diabetes, distributed across nine countries. Participants were randomly assigned to different treatment groups, receiving different starting doses, tapering schedules, and varying maintenance doses.
After 26 weeksthe medicine demonstrated better results than placebo at all doses tested. Up to 89.6% of participants who received the drug achieved a level of glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) at or below 7%, a widely used target in diabetes management that reflects average blood sugar levels over the past three months.
In comparison, only 24.9% of participants in the placebo group achieved this goal. The treatment also proved to be effective in reducing body weight, and depending on the dose administered, up to 72.3% of participants lost at least 5% of their initial weight, compared to just 20.2% in the placebo group.
“The results of our study reinforce the potential of oral GLP-1 receptor agonists for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. Until now, these therapies have been limited to injectable peptide formulations or oral formulations with specific restrictions on administration and dosage”, stated the first author of the study, Vanita Aroda.
“Clinical trials allow us to evaluate oral medications that may be equally effective for patients with diabetes while overcoming some of these limitations,” he added.
The researchers also reported that the safety and tolerability profile of elecoglipron was, in general, consistent with that observed in other drugs in the GLP-1 class at similar stages of clinical development.
