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A Comparative Effectiveness Study of Major Glycemia-lowering Medications for Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes

Phase 3
Completed
Conditions
Type 2 Diabetes
Comparative Effectiveness of Glycemia-lowering Medications
Interventions
Drug: Insulin (glargine)
Drug: Sulfonylurea (glimepiride)
Drug: DPP-4 inhibitor (sitagliptin)
Drug: GLP-1 receptor agonist (liraglutide)
Registration Number
NCT01794143
Lead Sponsor
GRADE Study Group
Brief Summary

The GRADE Study is a pragmatic, unmasked clinical trial that will compare commonly used diabetes medications, when combined with metformin, on glycemia-lowering effectiveness and patient-centered outcomes.

Detailed Description

Not available

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
COMPLETED
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
5047
Inclusion Criteria
  1. Men or women diagnosed with diabetes at age ≥ 30 years (≥ 20 for American Indians)
  2. Duration of diagnosed diabetes < 10 years
  3. HbA1c criteria (at final run-in visit, ~2 weeks prior to randomization): 6.8-8.5%
  4. Taking a daily dose of ≥ 1000 mg metformin for a minimum of 8 weeks at final run-in
  5. Willingness to administer daily subcutaneous injections, take a second diabetes drug after randomization, potentially initiate insulin and intensify insulin therapy if study metabolic goals are not met, perform self-monitoring of blood glucose
  6. Fluent in either English or Spanish
  7. A negative pregnancy test for all females of childbearing potential (i.e. pre-menopausal, and not surgically sterile)
  8. Provision of signed and dated informed consent prior to any study procedures
Exclusion Criteria
  1. Suspected type 1 diabetes (lean with polyuria, polydipsia, and weight loss with little response to metformin) or "secondary" diabetes due to specific causes (e.g. previously diagnosed monogenic syndromes, pancreatic surgery, pancreatitis)
  2. Current or previous (within past 6 months) treatment with any diabetes drug/glucose-lowering medication other than metformin (limited use of no longer than seven days is allowed, for example during hospitalization)
  3. More than 10 years of treatment with metformin at time of randomization screening
  4. History of intolerance or allergy or other contraindications to any of the proposed study medications
  5. Resides in the same household with another GRADE study participant
  6. Current need for any specific glucose-lowering medications solely for other conditions, for example for polycystic ovary syndrome
  7. Symptomatic hyperglycemia requiring immediate therapy during screening or run-in, in the judgment of the physician
  8. A life-threatening event within 30 days prior to screening or currently planned major surgery
  9. Any major cardiovascular event in previous year, including history of myocardial infarction, stroke, or vascular procedure such as coronary artery or peripheral bypass grafting, stent placements (peripheral or coronary) or angioplasty.
  10. Plans for pregnancy during the course of the study for women of child-bearing potential
  11. History of or planning bariatric surgery, including banding procedures or surgical gastric and/or intestinal bypass (if banding removed, may be considered eligible after 1 year)
  12. History of congestive heart failure (NYHA 3 or greater)
  13. History of pancreatitis
  14. History of cancer, other than non-melanoma skin cancer, that required therapy in the 5 years prior to randomization
  15. Personal or family history of MEN-2 or family history of medullary thyroid cancer
  16. Estimated GFR (eGFR) <30 ml/min/1.73 m2 or end stage renal disease requiring renal replacement therapy
  17. History of severe liver disease or acute hepatitis or ALT > 3 times upper limit of normal
  18. Current alcoholism or excessive alcohol intake
  19. Previous organ transplant
  20. Treatment with oral or systemic glucocorticoids (other than short-term treatment, for example for poison ivy) or disease likely to require periodic or regular glucocorticoid therapy (inhaled steroids are allowed)
  21. Treatment with atypical antipsychotics
  22. History of hemolytic anemia, chronic transfusion requirement, or other condition rendering HbA1c results unreliable as indicator of chronic glucose levels, or hematocrit <35 for males and <33 for females
  23. Clinically or medically unstable with expected survival <1 year
  24. Unwillingness to permit sites to contact the PCP to communicate information about the study and the participant's data
  25. No non-study PCP or inability to identify such a PCP (who will provide non-study care) by the time of final run-in
  26. Participation in another interventional clinical trial
  27. Previous randomization in the GRADE study
  28. In the opinion of the principal investigator (PI), any other factor, including language barrier, likely to limit compliance with the protocol

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
PARALLEL
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
Insulin (glargine)Insulin (glargine)Insulin (glargine), Lantus
Sulfonylurea (glimepiride)Sulfonylurea (glimepiride)Sulfonylurea
DPP-4 inhibitorDPP-4 inhibitor (sitagliptin)DPP-4 inhibitor (sitagliptin)
GLP-1 receptor agonistGLP-1 receptor agonist (liraglutide)GLP-1 receptor agonist (liraglutide)
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Time to HbA1c>=7%, while receiving metformin and the randomly assigned study medicationQuarterly for 4 to 7 years

The primary metabolic outcome is the time to primary failure defined as an HbA1c\>=7% (53mmol/mol), subsequently confirmed.

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Time to HbA1c>7.5%, while receiving metformin and the randomly assigned study medication.Quarterly for 4 to 7 years

The secondary metabolic outcome is time to HbA1c\>7.5% (58 mmol/mol), confirmed.

Trial Locations

Locations (36)

Seattle Institute for Biomedical and Clinical Research

🇺🇸

Seattle, Washington, United States

Indiana University School of Medicine

🇺🇸

Indianapolis, Indiana, United States

Baylor College of Medicine

🇺🇸

Houston, Texas, United States

South Florida VA Foundation (Miami VA)

🇺🇸

Miami, Florida, United States

University of Texas-Southwestern Medical Center

🇺🇸

Dallas, Texas, United States

Southwestern American Indian Center

🇺🇸

Phoenix, Arizona, United States

Veterans Medical Research Foundation, San Diego (San Diego VA)

🇺🇸

San Diego, California, United States

University of Minnesota

🇺🇸

Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States

Duke University Medical Center

🇺🇸

Durham, North Carolina, United States

University of North Carolina Diabetes Care Center

🇺🇸

Durham, North Carolina, United States

University of Cincinnati

🇺🇸

Cincinnati, Ohio, United States

Vanderbilt University Medical Center

🇺🇸

Nashville, Tennessee, United States

University of Texas Health Science Center

🇺🇸

San Antonio, Texas, United States

University of Alabama-Birmingham

🇺🇸

Birmingham, Alabama, United States

University of Colorado

🇺🇸

Denver, Colorado, United States

Kaiser Permanente Northwest

🇺🇸

Portland, Oregon, United States

Oregon Health and Science University

🇺🇸

Portland, Oregon, United States

University of Nebraska

🇺🇸

Omaha, Nebraska, United States

Kaiser Permanente of Georgia

🇺🇸

Duluth, Georgia, United States

Atlanta VA Medical Center

🇺🇸

Decatur, Georgia, United States

University of Iowa

🇺🇸

Iowa City, Iowa, United States

MedStar Health Research Institute

🇺🇸

Hyattsville, Maryland, United States

Pennington Biomedical Research Center

🇺🇸

Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States

Massachusetts General Hospital

🇺🇸

Boston, Massachusetts, United States

International Diabetes Center

🇺🇸

Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States

Washington University School of Medicine

🇺🇸

Saint Louis, Missouri, United States

University of New Mexico School of Medicine

🇺🇸

Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States

State University of New York (SUNY)-Downstate Medical Center

🇺🇸

Brooklyn, New York, United States

Columbia University Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center

🇺🇸

New York, New York, United States

Mount Sinai St. Luke's Hospital

🇺🇸

New York, New York, United States

Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine

🇺🇸

Cleveland, Ohio, United States

Baylor Endocrine Center

🇺🇸

Dallas, Texas, United States

Yale University School of Medicine

🇺🇸

New Haven, Connecticut, United States

University of Michigan

🇺🇸

Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States

Pacific Health Research and Education Institute (VA Pacific Islands)

🇺🇸

Honolulu, Hawaii, United States

Albert Einstein College of Medicine

🇺🇸

Bronx, New York, United States

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