Cardiovascular safety of the glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist taspoglutide in people with type 2 diabetes: an individual participant data meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Abstract

Aims: To study the short-term cardiovascular effects of the once-weekly glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist taspoglutide.

Methods: We conducted a meta-analysis of individual-participant data from nine randomized controlled trials in the T-Emerge programme, which assessed the efficacy and safety of taspoglutide in type 2 diabetes. Our primary outcome was a composite of death from cardiovascular disease (CVD) and acute myocardial infarction, stroke and hospitalization for unstable angina.

Results: Overall, 7056 individuals were included in the analysis, and there were 67 primary endpoint events during 7478 person-years of follow-up (40 vs 27 events in the intervention vs control groups, respectively). The odds ratio for the composite endpoint among people randomized to taspoglutide was 0.94 (95% confidence interval 0.57-1.56), which was robust across multiple subgroups. Longer-term data were not available as the development of taspoglutide was stopped because of gastrointestinal intolerance and serious hypersensitivity reactions.

Conclusions: The available data suggest that short-term, once-weekly administration of taspoglutide was not associated with an excess risk of CVD, and provide insights relevant to the development of other novel once-weekly incretin mimetics.

Keywords: GLP-1 receptor agonists; cardiovascular safety; diabetes; meta-analysis; taspoglutide.