Albiglutide for the management of type 2 diabetes

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Albiglutide is a long acting GLP-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA) administered by weekly injection and approved for use in type 2 diabetes. It has less gastrointestinal side effects than other GLP-1 RAs in current use but does not improve HbA1c or promote weight loss to the same extent as some competitor agents.

Area covered: The current use of albiglutide is discussed. The review encompassed a search of PubMed and a thorough analysis of the European Union and US Food and Drug Administration approval documents.

Expert opinion: Unlike competitor agents, the gastrointestinal side effects of albiglutide are not much greater than placebo. It has been studied and appears safe at all stages of renal failure. There exists concern about an imbalance of pancreatitis cases in the approval program as well as injection site reactions which led to discontinuance of therapy in up to 2% of participants. A large long-term study is now underway to determine if albiglutide, with its relatively favorable GI tolerance, has a place in the treatment of patients with increased risk of cardiovascular events. At present, albiglutide is a safe agent to introduce GLP-1 RA treatment into the regimen for type 2 diabetes patients and may be the GLP-1 agent of choice in patients with renal insufficiency.

KEYWORDS:

• GLP-1
• incretins
• liraglutide
• exenatide
• pancreatitis
• dulaglutide
• lixisenatide

Declaration of interest

The author presented a poster ‘Albiglutide Monotherapy in Drug-Naïve Patients with T2DM Harmony 2 Year 3 Results: Albiglutide Monotherapy in Drug-Naïve Patients with T2DM’ at the American Diabetes Association74th Scientific Session, 2014 and received travel support from Glaxo Smith Kline to enable him to do so. The authors have 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. Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

This manuscript was not funded.