A comparative study of repaglinide and glibenclamide in type 2 diabetic patients

Objective: to evaluate the safety and efficacy (glycemic control) provided by repaglinide compared with glibenclamide in newly diagnosed type 2 (non- insulin dependent) diabetic patients. study design: this single-center,randomized prospective study of one year duration was carried out in two hundred patients aging between 30-65 years,all diagnosed to have type 2 diabetes mellitus recently and were not on any treatment. they were randomly categorized into two groups,repaglinide (test) and glibenclamide (control) groups. the study consisted of an initial induction day followed by follow-up visits after every fortnight. repaglinide was given preprandially upto three times a day and glibenclamide was administered once or twice daily. dosage was adjusted after every visit according to blood glucose level. fasting blood glucose,two hours postprandial blood glucose,weight and blood pressure was recorded on every visit. results: of the two hundred randomized patients (100 in each group),all showed a decrease in fasting blood glucose and two hours postprandial blood glucose. mean reduction in fasting blood glucose by repaglinide group was 63±52 and those by glibenclamide group was 34.2 ± 52 (p=0.006). the mean reduction in two hours postprandial blood glucose was 118 ± 68 in repaglinide group,while 88.0±73 was observed in glibenclamide group (p=0.03). no statistically significant weight change was observed and no hypoglycaemic event was recorded in both the groups. conclusion: the results suggest that repaglinide and glibenclamide both were effective in lowering fasting and two hours postprandial blood glucose if used regularly for one year. both the drugs were well tolerated and weight change was minimal in both groups.