Research
Hormonal
Combining basal insulin with a GLP-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1RA) significantly reduces HbA1c, body weight, and hypoglycemia risk compared to basal insulin alone or intensified insulin regimens.
If you are on basal insulin and your blood sugar is still high, ask your doctor about adding a GLP-1 receptor agonist (like liraglutide or dulaglutide). This combination lowers blood sugar more effectively than increasing insulin alone, helps you lose weight, and reduces the risk of low blood sugar episodes.
StrongSupportsHIGH confidence
A GLP-1RA plus basal insulin combination significantly reduced HbA1c compared to basal insulin alone while reducing body weight and the relative risk of hypoglycemia. Moreover, such a GLP-1RA plus basal insulin combination significantly reduced HbA1c compared to any other glucose-lowering therapy, almost doubling the likelihood of achieving the target HbA1c ≤ 7 %, with no increased risk of hypoglycemia and a significant weight reduction
Why this rating
Based on multiple meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials cited in the review.
Source
Pharmacotherapy of ‘treatment resistant’ type 2 diabetes
André Scheen · Expert Opinion on Pharmacotherapy · 2017
DOI 10.1080/14656566.2017.1297424
narrative_reviewCited 36×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Treatment-resistant type 2 diabetes, defined as failure to achieve HbA1c targets despite triple oral therapy (metformin, sulfonylurea, and a third agent), can be effectively managed by adding a DPP-4 inhibitor and an SGLT2 inhibitor to metformin, or by combining basal insulin with a GLP-1 receptor agonist or SGLT2 inhibitor.Good
- Combining a GLP-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1RA) with an SGLT2 inhibitor provides superior glucose control, greater weight loss, and greater reductions in systolic blood pressure compared to either drug alone.Good
Related findings · Hormonal
- Initial treatment for type 2 diabetes should be a combination of metformin and either an SGLT-2 inhibitor or a GLP-1 receptor agonist to achieve cardiorenal protection, rather than monotherapy or older agents like sulfonylureas.Strong
- For patients with specific monogenic obesity syndromes (leptin deficiency, POMC/PCSK1/LEPR mutations), targeted pharmacotherapy (recombinant leptin or setmelanotide) is highly effective and should be prioritized, unlike in polygenic obesity.Strong
- Continued weekly administration of 2.4 mg subcutaneous semaglutide prevents weight regain and promotes further weight loss in adults with overweight or obesity, whereas switching to placebo results in significant weight regain.Strong
This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →