Liraglutide Effective for Glucose Control in Adolescents with Diabetes

By Kelly Young

Edited by Susan Sadoughi, MD, and André Sofair, MD, MPH

Adding liraglutide to metformin therapy in youth with type 2 diabetes is associated with improved glycated hemoglobin levels, according to an industry-funded study in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Researchers randomized 135 patients aged 10 to 16 with type 2 diabetes to receive either daily subcutaneous liraglutide (up to 1.8 mg) or placebo for 26 weeks. All patients received metformin and counseling on diet and exercise. Liraglutide patients continued receiving the drug for an additional 26 weeks, while placebo patients continued metformin.

At 26 weeks, HbA1c levels had fallen 0.64 percentage points in the liraglutide group and risen 0.42 percentage points in the placebo group (estimated difference, 1.06 percentage points). By 52 weeks, the estimated difference had increased to 1.3 percentage points. Both groups had lost weight at 26 weeks, but only the liraglutide group was able to maintain the loss at 52 weeks.

Serious adverse events and gastrointestinal events were more common in the liraglutide group.