Liraglutide and insulin combo for patients with type 1 diabetes: ADA

Addition of liraglutide, glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist, to insulin treatment significantly benefits the patients with type 1 diabetes, according to a new study.

The study, presented at the annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association in Orlando, Florida, finds that the addition of liraglutide to insulin regimen results in better blood sugar control, improvements in blood pressure, body weight and the amount of insulin patients with T1D needs to take.

Paresh Dandona, chief of the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism in the Jacobs School of Medicine at the University at Buffalo, and colleagues conducted the study to determine if the addition of liraglutide to insulin treatment improved outcomes for T1D patients.

“In 2011, we reported a small study with 14 participants showing that adding liraglutide to the insulin regimen of well-controlled Type 1 diabetes patients resulted in many benefits,” said Dr. Dandona.

“Now we have completed a larger study that again demonstrates that adding liraglutide to the insulin regimen significantly benefits the Type 1 diabetic patient.”

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The 52-week, randomized double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trial involved 26 men and women who received a daily injection of liraglutide and 20 who received placebo for 26 weeks; after that, the trial was unblinded and those who had had the placebo were switched to the drug, while those on liraglutide continued to receive it. Ages ranged from 30 to 75 years.

Key Findings:

• Patients taking liraglutide saw 0.57 percent (from 7.9 to 7.45) reduction in their hemoglobin A1c, a measure of sugar in the blood, compared to placebo.


• Patients taking liraglutide also needed a significantly lower dose of insulin.


• There was also a reduction in systolic blood pressure and weight loss averaging about 8 pounds over the duration of the study with liraglutide.


• There was no significant increase in hypoglycemic episodes.

Liraglutide induced an improvement in diabetic control, along with a reduction in blood pressure and body weight without causing hypoglycemia.