The Efficacy of Vildagliptin in Korean Patients with Type 2 Diabetes

lower in the vildagliptin treatment group than the sitagliptin group, and the differences in drug efficacy were attributed to the pharmacological characteristics of the two drugs. Vildagliptin’s efficacy has been shown in various populations and used in both mono- and combination therapies. Because its action depends on plasma glucose concentration, vildagliptin has significantly lower hypoglycemia and neutral effects on body weight compared to other hypoglycemic agents [7]. Scherbaum et al. [8] reported vildagliptin 50 mg once daily with lifestyle modification significantly reduced hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c, -0.3%) compared to the placebo group in a 52week study of drug-naive type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients (n=306) with a mean HbA1c of 6.7%. In addition, postprandial plasma glucose (PPG) as well as fasting plasma glucose (FPG) were significantly decreased by -0.9 and -0.4 mmol/L, respectively in the vildagliptin-treatment group. In a 52-week extension study (total study duration 104 weeks), vildagliptin showed continued improvement in glucose control and a placebo-adjusted change in HbA1c was reported -0.5% from core study baseline after 2 years. None of the sub jects treated with vildagliptin experienced adverse effects such as hypoglycemia (0.0% vs. 3.2% placebo) over a 2-year period, and body weight decreased significantly by -1.1 kg (vs. -0.3 kg placebo). These results implied that vildagliptin mitigated the progressive loss of glycemic control observed in patients with mild hyperglycemia receiving placebo and lifestyle counseling without causing hypoglycemia or weight gain. This appears to be due to a corresponding attenuation of the deterioration of