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Dulaglutide: A Review in Type 2 Diabetes

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Abstract

Subcutaneous dulaglutide (Trulicity®) is a once-weekly glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist that is approved in numerous countries as an adjunct to diet and exercise for the treatment of adults with type 2 diabetes (T2D). In the clinical trial and real-world settings, once-weekly subcutaneous dulaglutide, as monotherapy or add-on therapy to other antihyperglycaemic agents (including oral antihyperglycaemic drugs and insulin), was an effective and generally well tolerated treatment in adults with inadequately controlled T2D, including in high-risk patients [e.g. obese and elderly patients, those with stage 3 or 4 chronic kidney disease (CKD) and/or cardiovascular (CV) disease]. In the REWIND CV outcomes trial in patients with T2D with or without CV disease, dulaglutide was associated with a significant reduction in the risk of a major adverse cardiac event (MACE; primary composite outcome comprising CV death, nonfatal myocardial infarction or nonfatal stroke) at a median of 5.4 years’ follow-up. Given its durable glycaemic efficacy, beneficial effects on bodyweight and MACE outcomes, low inherent risk of hypoglycaemia and convenient once-weekly regimen, dulaglutide remains an important option in the management of T2D.

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Acknowledgements

During the peer review process, the manufacturer of dulaglutide was also offered an opportunity to review this article. Changes resulting from comments received were made on the basis of scientific and editorial merit.

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The preparation of this review was not supported by any external funding.

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    Lesley J. Scott

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Lesley Scott is a salaried employee of Adis International Ltd/Springer Nature, is responsible for the article content and declares no relevant conflicts of interest.

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Enhanced material for this Adis Drug Evaluation can be found at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.11356868.

The manuscript was reviewed by:S.C. Bain, Swansea University Medical School, Swansea, UK; D.S.H. Bell, Southside Endocrinology, Birmingham, AL, USA; A.M. Borzì, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Catania, Catania, Italy; Y. Hamamoto, Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism, Kansai Electric Power Hospital, Osaka, Japan.

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Scott, L.J. Dulaglutide: A Review in Type 2 Diabetes. Drugs 80, 197–208 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40265-020-01260-9

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