Insulin degludec: a novel ultra-long-acting basal insulin for use in Type 1 and 2 diabetes

The prevalence of diabetes, a chronic disease that currently poses a significant health burden in both developed and developing countries, is expected to increase significantly over the foreseeable future. In Type 1 diabetes, insulin replacement is absolutely imperative; in Type 2 diabetes, many patients will eventually require insulin replacement therapy to compensate for progressive -cell failure and maintain blood glucose control. Even though currently available insulin analog preparations more closely mimic physiologic insulin needs when compared with neutral protamine Hagedorn insulin, many patients with diabetes still experience unacceptable glycemic control, in part owing to limitations in insulin therapy, such as hypoglycemia risk, weight gain and the need for patients to adjust their lifestyle to their insulin therapy. Insulin degludec, appropriately labeled as an ultra-long-acting basal insulin, promises to achieve similar blood glucose control to currently available preparations (glargine and detemir insulin), with a reduced risk of hypoglycemia and greater flexibility in the day-to-day timing of insulin administration. Greater flexibility in basal insulin administration and/or reducing hypoglycemia risk in insulin-requiring patients with Type 1 or 2 diabetes may facilitate insulin management for patients and physicians

Insulin degludec: a novel ultra-long-acting basal insulin for use in Type 1 and 2 diabetes

The prevalence of diabetes, a chronic disease that currently poses a significant health burden in both developed and developing countries, is expected to increase significantly over the foreseeable future. In Type 1 diabetes, insulin replacement is absolutely imperative; in Type 2 diabetes, many patients will eventually require insulin replacement therapy to compensate for progressive -cell failure and maintain blood glucose control. Even though currently available insulin analog preparations more closely mimic physiologic insulin needs when compared with neutral protamine Hagedorn insulin, many patients with diabetes still experience unacceptable glycemic control, in part owing to limitations in insulin therapy, such as hypoglycemia risk, weight gain and the need for patients to adjust their lifestyle to their insulin therapy. Insulin degludec, appropriately labeled as an ultra-long-acting basal insulin, promises to achieve similar blood glucose control to currently available preparations (glargine and detemir insulin), with a reduced risk of hypoglycemia and greater flexibility in the day-to-day timing of insulin administration. Greater flexibility in basal insulin administration and/or reducing hypoglycemia risk in insulin-requiring patients with Type 1 or 2 diabetes may facilitate insulin management for patients and physicians

Efficacy and Safety of Insulin Degludec in a Flexible Dosing Regimen vs Insulin Glargine in Patients With Type 1 Diabetes (BEGIN: Flex T1): A 26-Week Randomized, Treat-to-Target Trial With a 26-Week Extension

OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the efficacy and safety of insulin degludec (IDeg) once daily (OD), varying injection timing day to day in subjects with type 1 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: This 26-week, open-label, treat-to-target, noninferiority trial compared IDeg forced flexible (Forced-Flex) OD (given in a fixed schedule with a minimum 8 and maximum 40 hours between doses) with IDeg or insulin glargine (IGlar) given at the same time daily OD. In the 26-week extension, all IDeg subjects were transferred to a free-flexible (Free-Flex) regimen, which allowed any-time-of-day dosing, and compared with subjects continued on IGlar. RESULTS: After 26 treatment weeks, mean glycosylated hemoglobin was reduced with IDeg Forced- Flex (−0.40%), IDeg (−0.41%), and IGlar (−0.58%). IDeg Forced-Flex noninferiority was achieved. Fasting plasma glucose reductions were similar with IDeg Forced-Flex and IGlar but greater with IDeg (−2.54 mmol/L) than IDeg Forced-Flex (−1.28 mmol/L) (P = .021). At week 52, IDeg Free-Flex subjects had similar glycosylated hemoglobin but greater fasting plasma glucose reductions than IGlar subjects (−1.07 mmol/L) (P = .005). Confirmed hypoglycemia rates (plasma glucose <3.1 mmol/L or severe hypoglycemia) were similar at weeks 26 and 52. Nocturnal confirmed hypoglycemia was lower with IDeg Forced-Flex vs IDeg (37%; P = .003) and IGlar (40%; P = .001) at week 26 and 25% lower with IDeg Free-Flex vs IGlar (P = .026) at week 52. CONCLUSIONS: IDeg can be administered OD at any time of day, with injection timing varied without compromising glycemic control or safety vs same-time-daily IDeg or IGlar. This may improve basal insulin adherence by allowing injection-time adjustment according to individual needs

Efficacy and safety of dapagliflozin in patients with inadequately controlled type 1 diabetes (DEPICT-1):24 week results from a multicentre, double-blind, phase 3, randomised controlled trial

Background Dapagliflozin is a sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitor approved for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. We aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of dapagliflozin as an add-on to adjustable insulin in patients with inadequately controlled type 1 diabetes. Methods DEPICT-1 was a double-blind, randomised, parallel-controlled, three-arm, phase 3, multicentre study done at 143 sites in 17 countries. Eligible patients were aged 18–75 years and had inadequately controlled type 1 diabetes (HbA1cbetween ≥7·7% and ≤11·0% [≥61·0 mmol/mol and ≤97·0 mmol/mol]) and had been prescribed insulin for at least 12 months before enrolment. After an 8 week lead-in period to optimise diabetes management, patients were randomly assigned (1:1:1) using an interactive voice response system to dapagliflozin 5 mg or 10 mg once daily, given orally, or matched placebo. Randomisation was stratified by current use of continuous glucose monitoring, method of insulin administration, and baseline HbA1c. The primary efficacy outcome was the change from baseline in HbA1cafter 24 weeks of treatment in the full analysis set, which consisted of all randomly assigned patients who received at least one dose of study drug. An additional 55 patients who were incorrectly and non-randomly allocated to only dapagliflozin treatment groups were included in the safety analysis set. This study was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT02268214; data collection for the present analysis was completed on Jan 4, 2017, and a 28 week extension phase is ongoing. Findings Between Nov 11, 2014, and April 16, 2016, 833 patients were assigned to treatment groups and included in safety analyses (dapagliflozin 5 mg [n=277] vs dapagliflozin 10 mg [n=296] vs placebo [n=260]; 778 of these patients were randomly assigned and included in the full analysis set for efficacy analyses (259 vs 259 vs 260; difference due to randomisation error affecting 55 patients). Mean baseline HbA1cwas 8·53% (70 mmol/mol; SD 0·67% [7·3 mmol/mol]). At week 24, both doses of dapagliflozin significantly reduced HbA1ccompared with placebo (mean difference from baseline to week 24 for dapagliflozin 5 mg vs placebo was −0·42% [95% CI −0·56 to −0·28; p&lt;0·0001] and for dapagliflozin 10 mg vs placebo was −0·45% [−0·58 to −0·31; p&lt;0·0001]). Among patients in the dapagliflozin 5 mg (n=277), dapagliflozin 10 mg (n=296), and placebo (n=260) groups, the most common adverse events were nasopharyngitis (38 [14%] vs 36 [12%] vs 39 [15%]), urinary tract infection (19 [7%] vs 11 [4%] vs 13 [5%]), upper respiratory tract infection (15 [5%] vs 15 [5%] vs 11 [4%]), and headache (12 [4%] vs 17 [6%] vs 11 [4%]). Hypoglycaemia occurred in 220 (79%), 235 (79%), and 207 (80%) patients in the dapagliflozin 5 mg, dapagliflozin 10 mg, and placebo groups, respectively; severe hypoglycaemia occurred in 21 (8%), 19 (6%), and 19 (7%) patients, respectively. Adjudicated definite diabetic ketoacidosis occurred in four (1%) patients in the dapagliflozin 5 mg group, five (2%) in the dapagliflozin 10 mg group, and three (1%) in the placebo group. Interpretation Our results suggest that dapagliflozin is a promising adjunct treatment to insulin to improve glycaemic control in patients with inadequately controlled type 1 diabetes. Funding AstraZeneca and Bristol-Myers Squibb