Long-term studies of treatments for type 2 diabetes

ABSTRACT

There is a relative lack of long-term data for individual glucose-lowering therapies for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus. A systematic search of published literature reporting data of approximately ≥3 years of follow-up from randomized controlled trials and their extensions was conducted. Trials to evaluate the efficacy and/or safety of glucose-lowering drugs currently approved for the treatment of adults with type 2 diabetes were included. Search results included long-term published data for traditional oral glucose-lowering drugs, insulin, α-glucosidase inhibitors, and incretin-based therapies. In general, results indicated that the short-term risk/benefit profile of these therapies is in line with longer-term evaluations. Individual results from these trials are reviewed in this report. These findings support the use of approved drug classes for longer-term treatment of type 2 diabetes.

KEYWORDS:

• α-Glucosidase inhibitors
• glucose-lowering therapies
• incretin-based therapies
• insulin
• type 2 diabetes

Declaration of interest

AE Caballero has received non-financial support from AstraZeneca during the conduct of the study and has received personal fees from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly & Co., Janssen, and Sanofi for participation in scientific advisory boards. The author has no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed. Writing assistance, provided by Mark Davies and Joan Thomas, on behalf of inScience Communications, Springer Healthcare (Philadelphia, PA, USA), was utilized in the production of this manuscript and funded by AstraZeneca.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by AstraZeneca.