Dual add‐on therapy of gemigliptin and dapagliflozin in patients with type 2 diabetes inadequately controlled with metformin alone: The SOLUTION 2 study

Abstract Aim To evaluate the efficacy and safety of gemigliptin and dapagliflozin dual add‐on therapy (GEMI + DAPA) to metformin in type 2 diabetes (T2D) patients who had inadequate glycaemic control on metformin alone, compared with a single add‐on of either gemigliptin (GEMI) or dapagliflozin (DAPA) to metformin. Materials and Methods In this randomized, double‐blind, double‐dummy, active‐controlled, parallel‐group, phase 3 study, 469 T2D patients treated with a stable dose of metformin for 8 weeks or longer were randomized to receive GEMI + DAPA ( n = 157) and either GEMI ( n = 156) or DAPA ( n = 156). The primary endpoint was change in HbA1c levels from baseline at week 24. Results Baseline characteristics including body mass index and T2D duration were similar among groups. At week 24, the least square mean changes in HbA1c from baseline were −1.34% with GEMI + DAPA, −0.90% with GEMI (difference between GEMI + DAPA vs. GEMI −0.44% [95% confidence interval {CI}: −0.58% to −0.31%], P < .01) and −0.78% with DAPA (difference between GEMI + DAPA vs. DAPA −0.56% [95% CI: −0.69% to −0.42%], P < .01). Both upper CIs were less than 0, demonstrating the superiority of GEMI + DAPA for lowering HbA1c. The rates of responders achieving HbA1c less than 7% and less than 6.5% were greater with GEMI + DAPA (84.9%, 56.6%) than with GEMI (55.3%, 32.2%) and DAPA (49.3%, 15.3%). The incidence rate of adverse events was similar across groups, with low incidence rates of hypoglycaemia, urinary tract infection and genital infection. Conclusions These results suggest that the addition of GEMI + DAPA to metformin as triple combination therapy was effective, safe and well‐tolerated, especially for T2D patients who experienced poor glycaemic control on metformin alone.