Lower glucose variability and hypoglycemia measured by continuous glucose monitoring with novel long-acting insulin LY2605541 versus insulin glargine.

Objective: To use continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) to evaluate the impact of the novel, long-acting basal insulin analog LY2605541 on hypoglycemia and glycemic variability in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Research Design And Methods: Hypoglycemia and glucose variability were assessed with CGM of interstitial glucose (IG) in a subset of patients with type 2 diabetes from a phase II, randomized, open-label, parallel study of LY2605541 (n = 51) or insulin glargine (GL) (n = 25). CGM was conducted on 3 consecutive days (72-84 h) during the week before week 0, 6, and 12 study visits.

Results: Measured by CGM for 3 days prior to the 12-week visit, fewer LY2605541-treated patients experienced hypoglycemic events overall (50.0 vs. 78.3%, P = 0.036) and nocturnally (20.5 vs. 47.8%, P = 0.027) and spent less time with IG ≤70 mg/dL than GL-treated patients during the 24-h (25 ± 6 vs. 83 ± 16 min, P = 0.012) and nocturnal periods (11 ± 5 vs. 38 ± 13 min, P = 0.024). These observations were detected without associated differences in the average duration of individual hypoglycemic episodes (LY2605541 compared with GL 57.2 ± 5.4 vs. 69.9 ± 10.2 min per episode, P = NS). Additionally, LY2605541-treated patients had lower within-day glucose SD for both 24-h and nocturnal periods.

Conclusions: By CGM, LY2605541 treatment compared with GL resulted in fewer patients with hypoglycemic events and less time in the hypoglycemic range and was not associated with protracted hypoglycemia.