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Glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1), an intestinal peptide that is secreted in response to meals, has several antidiabetic effects, including stimulation of insulin secretion. Exenatide (Byetta) is a GLP-1–receptor agonist that recently was FDA-approved for treating type 2 diabetes.
In an industry-sponsored randomized trial, 336 patients with suboptimally controlled type 2 diabetes during metformin monotherapy (mean glycosylated hemoglobin [HbA1c] level, 8.2%) received placebo or exenatide (5 or 10 μg), injected subcutaneously twice daily. Metformin therapy was continued. At 30 weeks, mean HbA1c levels increased by 0.1% in the placebo group and decreased by 0.4% and 0.8%, respectively, in the 5-μg and 10-μg exenatide groups. Compared with placeb…