New diabetes combination treatment shows positive results

A new treatment that combines long acting (basal) insulin (insulin degludec, Tresiba) and GLP-1 receptor agonist (liraglutide, Victoza) in one pen has posted positive results at the 51st European Association for the Study of Diabetes Annual Meeting.

The treatment, Xultophy (IDegLira) showed improvements to outcomes when compared with glargine. Additionally, patients reported “significantly” greater improvement in physical health measurements.

Previous findings from the DUAL V study found that patients treated with Xultophy:

• Achieved mean reduction in HbA1c of 1.8% from baseline (8.4% to 6.6% (68.3mmol/mol to 48.6mmol/mol)) compared to a 1.1% reduction (8.2% to 7.1% (66.1mmol/mol to 54.1mmol/mol)) achieved by patients increasing their dose of insulin glargine
• Achieved HbA1c of
• Achieved an HbA1c

Patient-reported outcomes were assessed by two questionnaires, the Treatment Related Impact Measure for Diabetes (TRIM-D) and Short Form-36 Health Survey (SF-36).

TRIM-D generates a score based on five areas: treatment burden, daily life, diabetes management, compliance and psychological health. Patients treated with Xultophy achieved a greater improvement from baseline in total score, treatment burden and diabetes management compared to those treated with insulin glargine. However, patients reported no significant difference in the other areas of measurement.

SF-36 is scored in two summary scales: the Physical Component Summary (PCS), a measure of physical health, and the Mental Component Summary (MCS), a measure of emotional health. Patients treated with Xultophy experienced greater improvement in the PCS score than insulin glargine patients, but there was no difference with regards to the MCS score between the two patient groups.

Professor Stephen Gough, University of Oxford and Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust commented: “Type 2 diabetes has a huge impact on the NHS, so it is crucial that patients receive effective treatment. However, the true impact of a treatment goes beyond efficacy and safety endpoints. The patient’s perception of how a treatment influences their wellbeing and daily living is also critical to understanding a therapy’s value. It is for this reason that I’m excited to see that patients’ perception of Xultophy in the DUAL V trial was consistent with the clinical results.”