medwireNews: The SUSTAIN 3 findings have been published in Diabetes Care, showing that semaglutide given once weekly is at least as effective as exenatide extended-release, with a similar safety profile.
The investigators, led by Andrew Ahmann (Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, USA), in fact found that semaglutide 1.0 mg produced a larger fall in glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels, of 1.5% (16.8 mmol/mol) in 404 patients randomly assigned to receive it for 56 weeks.
Exenatide 2.0 mg produced a significantly smaller reduction, of 0.9% (10 mmol/mol) among 405 patients, but the researchers note that larger reductions occurred in other trials of the medication and say that they “cannot exclude the possibility that the open-label design of the trial and the more complex device system used to administer exenatide [extended-release] contributed to the lower performance of this treatment.”
Adverse events occurred at a similar rate in both groups, but gastrointestinal events were more common with semaglutide than exenatide, particularly nausea at 22.3% versus 11.9%, whereas the reverse was true for injection site reactions, with nodules occurring in 0.0% versus 12.1%.
medwireNews is an independent medical news service provided by Springer Healthcare. © 2017 Springer Healthcare part of the Springer Nature group