Spotlight on Canagliflozin 300: review of its efficacy and an indirect comparison to other SGLT-2 inhibitors and long-acting GLP-1 receptor agonists

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Both sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT-2Is) and glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) have been consistently found to lower blood glucose, body weight and systolic blood pressure (SBP) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). While all the SGLT-2Is inhibit glucose reabsorption by blocking SGLT-2 receptor in kidney, dose-dependently, the highest licensed dose of canagliflozin 300-mg has an additional ability to inhibit SGLT-1 receptor in intestine transiently, that may lead to additional inhibition of prandial glucose absorption, unlike other approved highly selective SGLT-2Is.

Areas covered: An electronic search on studies with highest licensed dose of all approved SGLT-2Is and long-acting GLP-1RAs was made up to December 2016. We systemically reviewed the studies of canagliflozin 300-mg and compared its glucose, body weight and SBP lowering with other approved SGLT-2Is and GLP-1RAs in their highest approved doses.

Expert commentary: From the available evidences, it appears that canagliflozin 300-mg may have the highest potential to improve gluco-metabolic profile in T2DM, amongst the SGLT-2Is class. While the highest approved dosage of GLP-1RAs lowered HbA1c better than canagliflozin 300-mg, weight and SBP lowering could be non-inferior or slightly better with the latter drug. Nonetheless, only head-to-head trial can conclusively answer these questions.

KEYWORDS:

• SGLT-2 inhibitors
• GLP-1 receptor agonists
• Canagliflozin
• Type 2 diabetes
• Genito-urinary infection

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Dr. Ravi Santani and Dr. Mahanjit Konwar for their contribution in retrieving all the data related to this topic.

Declaration of Interest

The authors have no 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. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was not funded.