There US Food and Drug Administration announced that it has approved the injection of Mounjaro (tirzepatide) in combination with diet and exercise to improve blood glucose control in adults diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
Mounjaro: here’s how it works
It is a first-class drug that works by activating glucagon-like peptide-1 and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide receptors and is given by subcutaneous injection once a week.. The dose is modulated according to the patient’s tolerance to achieve glycemic goals.
The approval was based on data from five clinical trials in which three different doses of Mounjaro (5 mg, 10 mg and 15 mg) were evaluated as standalone therapy or as an adjunct to other diabetes medicines.
The experts revealed that the hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels of patients randomly assigned to receive 15 mg of Mounjaro as a standalone therapy were reduced by 1.6% more than the levels of patients randomly assigned to placebo and , when combined with long-acting insulin, levels were reduced by 1.5% more than placebo. Compared to semaglutide, insulin degludec and insulin glargine, HbA1c levels with Mounjaro 15 mg were reduced by 0.5, 0.9 and 1.0% more with Mounjaro 15 mg, respectively.
The mean weight loss with 15 mg of Mounjaro was about 7 kg more than placebo and about 10 kg more when both were used with insulin. Compared to semaglutide, insulin degludec and insulin glargine, the mean weight loss with 15 mg of Mounjaro was 12, 29 and 27 lbs more, respectively.
Commonly reported side effects of Mounjaro have included: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, decreased appetite, constipation, upper abdominal discomfort and abdominal pain. The FDA said Mounjaro caused thyroid C-cell tumors in rats, but it is not known whether it causes such tumors in humans. Mounjaro is contraindicated in people with a personal or family history of medullary thyroid cancer and in those with type 2 multiple endocrine neoplasms syndrome.
In Italy, according to the Ministry of Health: “
Type 2 diabetes accounts for approximately 90% of all diabetes cases; it generally occurs in adulthood (about 2/3 of diabetes cases affect people over 64 years of age), although in recent years, an increasing number of cases are diagnosed in adolescence, a fact related to the increase in cases of childhood obesity. Italians with type 2 diabetes are about 5% of the population, that is, over 3 million people. However, it is estimated that about 1 million people who have the disease but do not yet know it can add to this number “.
Luigi Ucciolidiabetologist, head of the Diabetic Foot Unit of the Polyclinic Tor Vergata University of Rome, stated regarding the difference between diabetes, diabetes mellitus, type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes: “Diabetes and diabetes mellitus are actually synonymous. Rather, we must distinguish between type 1 diabetes, also called insulin-dependent, because it must necessarily be treated with insulin. It generally affects young subjects. It accounts for approximately 5-10 percent of all forms of diabetes. The much more common type of diabetes (around 90 percent) is type 2 diabetes, also called non-insulin dependent diabetes, also referred to incorrectly as “dietary diabetes”. It generally affects adults around the age of 50, generally overweight with a sedentary lifestyle “.
“This type of diabetes is frequently considered by patients as a “little diabetes” or “mild diabetes”, falsely connoting a diabetes that is not particularly severe. This type of evaluation often leads to an often superficial management of the disease, which unfortunately leaves room for the development of chronic complications of diabetes.“.
” Among these the retinopathy, affecting the eyes, nephropathy affecting the kidneys, neuropathy affecting the feet and vasculopathy affecting the arteries of the heart, arteries that carry blood to the head and lower limbs. Neuropathy and peripheral arterial disease are in turn responsible for the “diabetic foot”, a serious complication that leads to chronic ulcers and amputations “ .
“If you are familiar with type 2 diabetes, the risk of developing diabetic disease is directly proportional to your weight. So a diet that allows you to lose weight also allows you to remove the risk of developing diabetes“Specified the expert.
It goes without saying that a healthy and balanced diet combined with physical activity is a winning strategy in the treatment of type two diabetes and with access to the administration of Mounjaro, weight loss and normalization of blood sugar will be easier goals to achieve.
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