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.