Licogliflozin and weight loss in patients with and without diabetes

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of licogliflozin on body weight and gut hormones in patients with obesity with and without type 2 diabetes (T2D). The main finding of the study was that licogliflozin treatment resulted in weight loss and favorable metabolic changes in these patients.

Obesity is an increasing problem worldwide. Obesity increases the risk of many diseases such as T2D, heart disease, and kidney disease. The use of some weight loss medications, along with diet and lifestyle changes, are recommended with patients with a body mass index (BMI) of greater than 30kg/m².

Patients with T2D have blood sugars that are too high. Blood sugars are controlled by gut hormones such as insulin, GLP-1, and PYY. SGLT-2 inhibitors are blood sugar lowering drugs used in the treatment of T2D. They work by blocking the uptake of sugar in the kidney back into the blood. Instead, the sugar gets removed from the body in the urine. SGLT-2 inhibitors have shown to help weight loss in patients with T2D. SGLT-1 inhibitors block sugar from being absorbed in the gut. Licogliflozin is a drug that is both a SGLT-1 and SGLT-2 inhibitor. It is not known if licogliflozin is better for weight loss over drugs that are only SGLT-2 inhibitors.  

This study included 88 patients with obesity. Patients were randomly assigned to either receive licogliflozin 150mg daily for 12 weeks or a placebo.

After 12 weeks, body weight and waist circumference had significantly reduced in patients who had received licogliflozin compared to those who received the placebo. The licogliflozin group also had lower after-meal blood sugar levels compared to the placebo group.

42 obese patients with T2D were enrolled in a second study. They were treated with different doses of licogliflozin for either 7 or 14 days. A single dose of 300mg licogliflozin in the morning before an oral glucose tolerance (OGTT) test was associated with a 93% decrease in a blood sugar spike. Treatment with 15 mg licogliflozin for 14 days reduced average 24-hour blood sugar level by 26%. In addition, this treatment regimen increased gut hormones by 54% (GLP-1) and 67% (PYY) after OGTT) compared to placebo.

Diarrhea was reported by 90% of patients who were treated with licogliflozin compared to 25% in the placebo group.

The authors concluded that licogliflozin leads to weight loss and increased gut hormones in obese patients both with and without T2D.

This study was funded by Novartis, the developer of licogliflozin.