Comparison of the efficacy of glimepiride, metformin, and rosiglitazone monotherapy in korean drug-naïve type 2 diabetic patients: the practical evidence of antidiabetic monotherapy study

Although many anti-diabetic drugs have been used to control hyperglycemia for decades, the efficacy of commonly-used oral glucose-lowering agents in Korean type 2 diabetic patients has yet to be clearly demonstrated. We evaluated the efficacy of glimepiride, metformin, and rosiglitazone as initial treatment for drug-naïve type 2 diabetes mellitus patients in a 48-week, double-blind, randomized controlled study that included 349 Korean patients. Our primary goal was to determine the change in HbA1c levels from baseline to end point. Our secondary goal was to evaluate changes in fasting plasma glucose (FPG) levels, body weight, frequency of adverse events, and the proportion of participants achieving target HbA1c levels. HbA1c levels decreased from 7.8% to 6.9% in the glimepiride group (P