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Re-injection of basal insulin once a week demonstrated similar efficacy and safety and a lower rate of hypoglycemic episodes compared to daily basal insulin, according to a phase 2 clinical trial. compared an investigational medicine called basal insulin Fc (BIF) with insulin degludec, a commercially available long-lasting daily insulin, in patients with type 2 diabetes.
According to Juan Frias, MD, the study’s principal investigator and the medical director of the National Research Institute in Los Angeles, Calif., Reducing the number of weekly insulin injections may improve insulin adherence, which could result in better patient outcomes than those of daily basal insulins. Administration once a week may also increase the willingness of patients with type 2 diabetes to start insulin therapy when oral medication alone no longer provides adequate blood sugar control.
Patients received random assignments to 1 of 3 treatment groups: weekly injections of BIF to 1 of 2 different dosing algorithms with different targets for fasting blood sugar, or standard insulin degludec injections once daily . One fasting glucose target for patients receiving BIF was 140 mg per deciliter (mg / dL) or less, and the other was equal to or less than 120 mg / dL. The fasting glucose target for insulin degludec was 100 mg / dL or less.
The 32-week clinical trial was conducted in 399 patients, all of whom had type 2 diabetes and had previously consumed basal insulin in combination with oral antidiabetics. Compared to insulin degludec, patients taking BIF achieved similar long-term blood sugar control, as measured by hemoglobin A1c, the researchers reported. Study participants had an average A1c of 8.1% at the start of the study and at the end of the study an average improvement in A1c of 0.6% for BIF and 0.7% for insulin degludec.
“Based on our promising data, further research with BIF has been initiated in patients with type 1 diabetes and other patient populations with type 2 diabetes,” Frias said in a press release. .
REFERENCE
Weekly insulin helps patients with type 2 diabetes achieve blood sugar control similar to daily insulin [news release]. EurekAlert; March 21, 2021. Accessed March 26, 2021. https://eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-03/tes-wih031621.php
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