How effective and safe is non-insulin drug evogliptin for patients with type 2 diabetes?

This study compared the effectiveness and safety of evogliptin (Suganon) to another non-insulin drug, linagliptin (Tradjenta), in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D). The results showed that evogliptin was as safe and effective at reducing patients’ blood glucose levels as linagliptin.

Several treatment options are available for patients with T2D. Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors (DPP-4i) are a class of drugs that reduce patients’ blood glucose levels and prevent low blood glucose (hypoglycemia). DPP-4i drugs can also prevent kidney side effects. Evogliptin is a recently developed DPP-4i, while linagliptin is a DPP-4i that has been on the market for some time. It is unclear if evogliptin is as safe and effective as linagliptin.

207 patients with T2D were divided into two groups. The first group received evogliptin (102 patients) and the second received linagliptin (105 patients) for 12 weeks. After 12 weeks, all patients were given evogliptin for 12 more weeks. 

HbA1c is used to measure blood glucose levels over the previous three months. During the first 12 weeks, HbA1c was reduced by 0.85% in the evogliptin group and by 0.75% in the linagliptin group. 68% of the evogliptin group and 67.3% of the linagliptin group had a HbA1c lower than 7%.

The mean amplitude of glucose excursions (MAGE) is a measurement of blood glucose stability. MAGE improved by 24.6 mg/dL in the evogliptin group and by 16.7 mg/dL in the linagliptin group.

After 12 weeks, 29.7% of patients in the evogliptin group and 40% of patients in the linagliptin group reported side effects. The most common side effects were hypoglycemia (dangerously low blood glucose levels), infections, and allergic reactions to the medication in both groups.

After 24 weeks, HbA1c levels were reduced by 0.94% in the evogliptin-evogliptin group, and by 0.83% in the linagliptin–evogliptin group. 80.2% of the evogliptin-evogliptin group and 70.9% of the linagliptin–evogliptin group had a HbA1c of less than 7%. MAGE improved by 26.86 mg/dL in the evogliptin-evogliptin group and 13.37 mg/dL in the linagliptin–evogliptin group.

The authors concluded that evogliptin was as effective and safe as linagliptin. Glucose stability was improved slightly more by evogliptin.

The manufacturer of evogliptin, Dong-A ST, funded this study. Larger and longer-term studies are needed to confirm these results.