Both twice-daily and once-weekly formulations of exenatide provided improvements in treatment satisfaction and quality of life when added to diet and exercise and/or other oral antidiabetes agents, report researchers in the journal Diabetic Medicine.

The effects of the glucagon-like peptide (GLP)-1 receptor agonist exenatide on glycemic and clinical parameters including blood glucose control, decreased appetite, and weight suggest it may have potential treatment satisfaction and quality-of-life benefits.

“Treatment satisfaction deserves attention because it may influence treatment adherence and consequent clinical outcomes. Quality of life is a critical outcome in its own right,” note Jennie Best (Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc, San Diego, California, USA) and co-workers.

To assess these potential benefits, the authors used data from a randomized, multicenter, open-label study, in which 295 Type 2 diabetes patients managed with diet and exercise and/or oral antidiabetic agents received a long-acting release formulation of once-weekly exenatide (2 mg) or twice-daily exenatide (10 µg) for 30 weeks. Patients receiving exenatide twice daily were then switched to exenatide once weekly until week 52.

The patients completed a Diabetes Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire and a Weight-related Quality of Life questionnaire at baseline and at weeks 30 and 52.

In both exenatide arms, treatment satisfaction and weight-related quality of life improved significantly from baseline to week 30, with no significant difference between treatment arms in total treatment satisfaction or quality of life, but a greater improvement in perceived hyperglycemia frequency and willingness to continue current treatment in the exenatide once-weekly arm.

Patients who switched from twice-daily to once-weekly exenatide at week 30 reported significantly improved total treatment satisfaction, treatment convenience, treatment flexibility, and satisfaction with continuing treatment at week 52.

“The fact that improvements in treatment satisfaction and quality of life were maintained over 52 weeks suggests that these effects are durable, and the fact that participants continued to prefer exenatide to their pre-study treatment regimen suggests that patients may be willing to continue to manage their Type 2 diabetes with exenatide treatment,” write Best et al.

They suggest that one reason for the greater acceptance of once-weekly exenatide may be the greater improvement in glucose control. The reduction in perceived frequency of hyperglycemia was the benefit for which exenatide once-weekly had the largest advantage over exenatide twice-daily.

“Our results indicate it is possible for patients treated with diet/exercise and/or oral agents to initiate exenatide therapy with potential benefits in both clinical efficacy and patient-reported outcomes directly related to treatment adherence,” conclude the authors.

MedWire (www.medwire-news.md) is an independent clinical news service provided by Current Medicine Group, a part of Springer Science+Business Media. © Current Medicine Group Ltd; 2009

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