Clinical potential of glucagon-like peptide-1 analogs in the management of diabesity

Abstract

Obesity and cardiovascular complications are the two pandemic which plays a crucial role in the pathophysiology of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Loss of weight and increased cardiovascular risk are becoming the hurdles for the diabetic population. The tremendous hike in the rate of obesity is one of the main reasons for the increased cases of diabetes mellitus and hence, obesity becomes a high-risk factor for diabetes. Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonists were initially developed for the treatment of diabetes mellitus but was found to be effective not only for the glycemic control but also for the weight loss. Hence this review article aims to assess the clinical efficacy of GLP-1 agonists in the management of weight loss, and also discusses the detailed insights of FDA approved drugs used in weight management, and discuss the mechanisms by which GLP-1 agonist, used in weight loss therapy. It also discusses the role of dual co-agonist in the treatment of obesity. This literature survey has been done by searching term “GLP-1 agonist, diabetes, obesity, novel drug targets” in the PubMed, Scopus, Embase, and web of science databases. Then, the search is further narrowed by including the articles having recent updates only and then further it is narrowed by excluding the animal studies and including only the clinical studies. This article is purely based on the published clinical data obtained from various clinical trials. Based on the previous studies and clinical trials, it has been observed that GLP-1 agonists such as liraglutide and semaglutide are more efficacious drug than other approved drugs in weight management therapy and have advantage of improving the blood glucose profile and reduces the cardiovascular risk also. It is also found that dual gastric inhibitory polypeptide (GIP)/GLP-1 agonists is regarded as the more effective in treating obesity than the GLP-1 agonist alone.