On the heels of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval of tirzepatide in May, positive data from SURPASS-4, SURMOUNT-1, and other trials have generated nearly two dozen tirzepatide abstracts at the 82nd Scientific Sessions. Many of those abstracts will be showcased on the final day of the meeting during the two-hour symposium Future of Diabetes—The Next Frontier with Dual Incretin. The session, which begins at 7:30 a.m. CT Tuesday, June 7, in Great Hall A at the convention center, will be livestreamed for virtual meeting attendees.
Tirzepatide is the first dual glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist approved by the FDA. Results from the SURMOUNT-1 trial, which were first reported on Saturday at the Scientific Sessions, showed that tirzepatide provided substantial and sustained reductions in body weight in people living with obesity.
More Here: Tirzepatide delivers substantial, sustained reductions in body weight in SURMOUNT-1 obesity trial
“Attendees are seeing and hearing data that is being presented for the first time here in New Orleans,” said Katherine R. Tuttle, MD, FASN, FACP, FNKF, University of Washington. “There’s an enormous portfolio of abstracts being presented during the five days of the Scientific Sessions and we are going to put them all together into a single, two-hour symposium so people can go home with a good understanding of just what the future of diabetes looks like and what these new therapies are doing with regard to glycemia and weight—plus the very strong potential we see for both heart and kidney protection.”
During Tuesday’s session, Dr. Tuttle will examine emerging, but not yet fully mature data suggesting possible cardiovascular- and kidney-protective effects from dual GIP/GLP-1 receptor agonist therapy. Other presenters will distill the latest data on improvements in glycemia and weight reduction, and the alluring potential of normoglycemia as a treatment goal in type 2 diabetes.
The primary cardiovascular outcome trial of tirzepatide is still underway, Dr. Tuttle noted, but other trial results have demonstrated a profound reduction in albuminuria and rate of decline in glomerular filtration rate. Current trial data comparing tirzepatide to insulin suggest the dual agent could show greater reductions in glycemia and weight than has been seen with conventional GLP-1 receptor agonists.
“All the risk markers go in the right direction with tirzepatide,” Dr. Tuttle said.
The bigger problem now is getting the newest and most effective cardiovascular- and kidney-protective agents to patients who have or are at risk of developing these complications. Albuminuria screening is one of the most effective tools to predict kidney risk and heart risk, but screening rates are abysmally low, somewhere between 15% and 40% of individuals with diabetes annually.
“Screening is a huge missed opportunity to improve therapy by timely identification of those who need it,” Dr. Tuttle said. “The idea is to move quickly to get these newer heart- and kidney-protective agents into those individuals. We already have SGLT2 (sodium-glucose cotransporter 2) inhibitors, GLP-1 receptor agonists, and nonsteroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists widely available. Tirzepatide is the next arrow in our quiver to improve heart-kidney-metabolic health.”
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