Efficacy and safety of initial treatment with glimpeiride versus sitagliptin in type 2 diabetes

Diabetes mellitus type 2 (DM2) is a multifactorial disease that can be treated with oral antiglycemic medication or with insulin. The antiglycemic drugs glimepiride and sitagliptin have different mechanisms of action, and have not been directly compared in a Latin-American population with recent DM2 diagnostic. The primary objective in this randomized (1:1), multicentric, two arms, open study with adult patients, was to compare the efficacy of glimepiride with sitagliptin in a DM2 population naïve to treatment. Secondary objectives had been the effect on fasting and postprandial glycemia, hypoglycemia, weight modification, safety, percentage of patients quiting the trial, vital signs and laboratory results. Glimepiride and sitagliptin were equally effective in glycemic control and all other parameters, and the only difference found has been the frequency of hypoglycemic events reports, wich has been reported as higher and statistically significant in the in the glimepiride group. No fatalities where reported in either group. Glimepiride or sitagliptin monotherapy are equally effective in control of HbA1c.