HelixTalk Episode #66 - What’s new in the diabetes world? Tapas style!

Date posted: September 5, 2017, 6:00 am

In this episode, we discuss updates in diabetes management that includes nuances from the ADA’s Standards of Care 2017. We also review some newer pharmacologic agents, a fixed dose GLP-1 agonist and basal insulin combinations.

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Key Concepts

1. Diabetes management is ever evolving and thus reviewing newly published guidelines can help you stay current while providing diabetes patient care. 
2. One of the more recent advancements in diabetic drug therapy are fixed dose combination basal insulin and GLP-1 agonist products. Two products include Xultophy (insulin degludec + liraglutide) [pronounced ZUl-TOh-PHEE] and Soliqua (insulin glargine + lixisenatide) [pronounced Sol-EEk-WAA].
3. These basal insulin + GLP-1 agonist combination products may be best suited for those with type-2 diabetes who are on either of the individual agents and want to minimize the number of injections and co-pays, but overall they do come with dosing limitations due to fixed dose combination. 
4. Xultophy and Soliqua do not provide as much weight loss benefit as compared to GLP-1 only therapy. If patients are switched from GLP-1 only therapy, some weight gain has been noted due to basal insulin component. Patient education regarding hypoglycemia should be emphasized because basal insulin component may delay recovery from hypoglycemia. 

References

1. American Diabetes Association. Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes-2017. Diabetes Care 2017;40(Suppl. 1):S1–S135.
2. Xultophy (iDegLira) [prescribing information]. Plainsboro, NJ: Novo Nordisk A/S; 2016.
3. Soliqua (LixiLan) [prescribing information]. Bridgewater, NJ: Sanofi Aventis U.S. LLC; 2016.