A clinical trial has shown that a new once-daily pill may be almost as effective as the GLP-1 receptor agonist injections currently used to treat type 2 diabetes.Type 2 diabetes—a disease that occurs when the body doesn't produce enough insulin or can't use it effectively, leading to high blood sugar levels—is typically treated with metformin, sometimes combined with other medications, including GLP-1 receptor agonists, a class of drugs that help lower blood sugar. In some cases, these medications are administered via injection, such as Ozempic, which has gained popularity in recent years, particularly for weight loss. These injections mimic a hormone that stimulates the pancreas to produce more insulin.
But researchers from a hospital in Beijing believe a new oral option may offer a simpler alternative to these injections.
The trial involved an experimental drug called HRS-7535, which was tested on 194 adults with type 2 diabetes whose condition was not adequately controlled using metformin alone.
During 16 weeks of treatment, the drug – which is also a GLP-1 inducer – showed a significant decrease in glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels, an indicator that reflects average blood sugar over the past months.
The participants were randomly divided into groups that received different daily doses of the drug (15, 30, 60 and 90 mg), or a placebo.
The results showed that the placebo group recorded a slight decrease in HbA1c of 0.25%, while the different doses achieved larger decreases ranging between 1.19% and 1.82%, with the highest effectiveness at a dose of 60 mg.
The researchers say this level of reduction is close to the effect of traditional GLP-1 drugs, which typically reduce HbA1c by between 1.0% and 1.5%, suggesting that the new drug could be a potential competitor to them in terms of effectiveness.
The results also showed that nearly two-thirds of patients who received a 60 mg dose achieved an HbA1c level of less than 7%, which is a common therapeutic target to reduce the risk of complications.
Complications of diabetes include heart attacks, strokes, kidney disease, and nerve damage, as well as other problems such as vision loss and foot infections.
However, the researchers stressed the need for caution in interpreting the results, because the study is still in the second phase of clinical trials, which means that the drug has not yet reached the stage of widespread use or final confirmation of its safety and effectiveness.
Some participants reported side effects including nausea, diarrhea and vomiting, but these were mostly mild.
The researchers believe that these results pave the way for moving to the third phase of clinical trials, which will include thousands of patients with the aim of evaluating its efficacy and safety more broadly before considering its adoption as a treatment.
The study was published in the journal JAMA Network Open.
