Mulberry twig alkaloids exhibited equivalent hypoglycemic effects to acarbose in patients with T2D. - GreenMedInfo Summary

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of mulberry twig alkaloids (Sangzhi alkaloids [SZ-A]) in the treatment of type 2 diabetes (T2D).

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: This was a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, double-dummy, and parallel controlled noninferiority clinical trial that was conducted for 24 weeks. A total of 600 patients were randomly allocated to the SZ-A group (360) or acarbose group (240). The primary efficacy end point was the change of glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA) compared with baseline. In addition, adverse events (AEs), severe AEs (SAEs), treatment-related AEs (TAEs), and gastrointestinal disorders (GDs) were monitored.

RESULTS: After treatment for 24 weeks, the change in HbAwas -0.93% (95% CI -1.03 to -0.83) (-10.2 mmol/mol [-11.3 to -9.1]) and -0.87% (-0.99 to -0.76) (-9.5 mmol/mol [-10.8 to -8.3]) in the SZ-A and acarbose groups, respectively, and the least squares mean difference was -0.05% (95% CI -0.18 to 0.07) (-0.5 mmol/mol [-2.0 to 0.8]) between the two groups, with no significant difference on the basis of covariance analysis (>0.05). The incidence of TAEs and GDs was significantly lower in the SZ-A group than the acarbose group (<0.01), but no differences for AEs or SAEs between the two groups were observed (>0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: SZ-A exhibited equivalent hypoglycemic effects to acarbose in patients with T2D. Nevertheless, the incidence of TAEs and GDs was lower following SZ-A treatment than acarbose treatment, suggesting good safety.