Study: Dapagliflozin added to existing glimepiride therapy helps Type 2 diabetics reduce blood-glucose levels

DUBAI — A study conducted by Bristol-Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca found that adding an investigational compound to an existing Type 2 diabetes treatment may help reduce blood-glucose levels among patients.

The drug makers said that in its phase-3 study — which was conducted over a 24-week period and consisted of 592 adults (ages 18 years and older) with Type 2 diabetes — a mean change in blood-glucose levels was recorded in patients that had dapagliflozin (2.5 mg, 5 mg or 10 mg per day) added to their glimepiride (4 mg/day) therapy, compared with placebo added to glimepiride. The study period then was extended by an additional 24 weeks — 519 of 546 patients initially enrolled completed the extension — to measure the efficacy of dapagliflozin over a longer period of time. Bristol and AstraZeneca found that in addition to maintaining reductions in blood-sugar levels, the 48-week study reported that patients taking dapagliflozin added to glimepiride maintained reductions in fasting plasma glucose levels, post-prandial glucose and total body weight.

The data were presented at the International Diabetes Federation 2011 World Diabetes Congress in Dubai last week.

“Given that patients with Type 2 diabetes often need multiple therapies to help manage blood-sugar levels over the course of this progressive disease, it is important to assess the ability of new compounds to work in combination with commonly prescribed anti-diabetic treatments,” said Krzysztof Strojek of the department of internal diseases, diabetology and nephrology at Silesian Medical University (Poland). “This study demonstrated that the addition of dapagliflozin to existing glimepiride therapy maintained reductions in blood-sugar levels over 48 weeks.”