Alogliptin for the treatment of type 2 diabetes: a drug safety evaluation

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors such as alogliptin are becoming more widely established as treatment options for patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) because of their ability to improve glycemic control without increasing the risk of hypoglycemia or weight gain. New therapies with improved safety profiles are needed, especially because of the chronic and progressive nature of T2DM.

Areas covered: In this article, the overall safety and tolerability of alogliptin are evaluated based upon a review of the literature. In particular, adverse events (AEs) that have been of interest for the DPP-4 class of drugs, such as the risk of major cardiovascular (CV) events and acute pancreatitis, will be investigated in detail.

Expert opinion: Alogliptin is generally well-tolerated in a broad range of patient populations including different ethnic groups and the elderly. In the pivotal EXAMINE clinical trial, alogliptin was found not to be associated with an increased risk of major CV events or acute pancreatitis/pancreatic cancer.

KEYWORDS:

• Alogliptin
• dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors
• safety
• tolerability
• type 2 diabetes

Declaration of interest

Y Seino has received lecture fees from Novo Nordisk, Taisho Toyama, MSD, Takeda and has indicated no other conflicts of interest regarding the content of this article. D Yabe has received speaker fees from Eli Lilly, MSD, Sanofi, Novo Nordisk, Boehringer Ingelheim, Takeda and Taisho pharmaceutical. The paper was funded by Takeda Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. 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. Medical Writing assistance was kindly provided by Dr Steve Clissold (ContentEdNet) and WysiWyg Co., Ltd., and funded by Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.