Liraglutide and its effects on HbA1c and weight control: a two-year experience
Edoardo Mannucci
Diabetes Agency, Careggi teaching Hospital, Florence, Italy

The long-acting glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist liraglutide has been shown to be superior to, or equally effective as, sulphonylureas and thiazolidinediones in the reduction of blood glucose, either as monotherapy or as add-on to another drug. In patients failing to the combination of metformin and sulphonylureas, liraglutide reduces HbA1c to the same extent as insulin glargine, but with a lower hypoglycemic risk. Thanks to its longer duration of action, liraglutide,which can be administered once a day, has a greater efficacy on fasting glucose and HbA1c than exenatide b.i.d. A consistent result across all available trials is that liraglutide determines a significant weight loss in comparison with placebo, while its active comparators (sulphonylureas, thiazolidinediones, and insulin) induce weight gain. Considering that liraglutide has a very low hypoglycemic potential even in normoglycemic subjects, this drug appears to be a potentially interesting anti-obesity agent. Available data do not allow the use of liraglutide for indications which are different from the reduction of blood glucose in type 2 diabetic patients; however, the weight-reducing properties of the drug could be clinically relevant in overweight and obese diabetic individuals.

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