- With Mayo Clinic endocrinologist
Maria Collazo-Clavell, M.D.
read biographyclose windowBiography of
Maria Collazo-Clavell, M.D.
Maria Collazo-Clavell, M.D.
Dr. Maria Collazo-Clavell is board certified in internal medicine, endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism. She's a consultant in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, Metabolism & Nutrition at Mayo Clinic and an associate professor at College of Medicine, Mayo Clinic.
The Aibonito, Puerto Rico, native has been with Mayo Clinic since 1994.
She's a member of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, the American College of Endocrinology, the American Diabetes Association and The Endocrine Society.
Dr. Collazo-Clavell is medical editor of diabetes content on Mayo's health information website and for "Mayo Clinic The Essential Diabetes Book." Her clinical interests include management of type 1 and type 2 diabetes, obesity and nutritional disorders.
Risk factors (1)
- Diabetes: Does alcohol and tobacco use increase my risk?
Symptoms (1)
- The dawn phenomenon: What can you do?
Complications (1)
- Diabetes: How do I help protect my liver?
Treatments and drugs (4)
- Diabetes management: Does aspirin therapy prevent heart problems?
- Blood glucose monitors: What factors affect accuracy?
- Avandia and Actos safety concerns: What should I do?
- see all in Treatments and drugs
Lifestyle and home remedies (10)
- Caffeine: Does it affect blood sugar?
- Glucosamine: Does it affect blood sugar?
- Diabetes: Are electric blankets off-limits?
- see all in Lifestyle and home remedies
Alternative medicine (2)
- Diabetes treatment: Can cinnamon lower blood sugar?
- Does prickly pear cactus have health benefits?
Prevention (2)
- Sodium nitrate in meat: Heart disease risk factor?
- Fasting diet: Can it improve my heart health?
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Question
Byetta, Victoza, Bydureon: Diabetes drugs and weight loss
Tell me about the diabetes drugs Byetta, Victoza and Bydureon. Can they really help people who have diabetes lose weight? Are there side effects?
Answer
from Maria Collazo-Clavell, M.D.
Exenatide (Byetta, Bydureon) and liraglutide (Victoza) are taken by injection, similar to insulin, but they're not insulin. These drugs are in a class of drugs called incretin mimetics, which improve blood sugar control by mimicking the action of a hormone called glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1). Among other things, these drugs allow insulin, which lowers blood sugar, to work more effectively in the body.
Byetta, Bydureon and Victoza not only improve blood sugar control but may also lead to weight loss. There are many proposed ways in which these medications cause weight loss. They appear to help suppress appetite. But the most prominent effect of these drugs is that they delay the movement of food from the stomach into the small intestine. As a result, you may feel "full" faster and longer, so you eat less.
Byetta is injected twice daily, and Victoza is injected once a day. Bydureon, a newer formulation, is injected once a week. These drugs do have different effects and side effects to consider.
- Exenatide (Byetta, Bydureon). The most common side effect of exenatide is mild to moderate nausea, which improves with time in most people. Several cases of kidney problems, including kidney failure, have been reported in people who have taken exenatide. Rarely, exenatide may cause harmful inflammation of the pancreas (pancreatitis).
- Liraglutide (Victoza). Some studies have found that liraglutide reduces systolic blood pressure and triglycerides, in addition to improving blood sugar control. The most common side effects are headache, nausea and diarrhea. Clinical studies have also shown that liraglutide may cause pancreatitis.
If you have a personal or family history of medullary thyroid cancer or multiple endocrine neoplasia, you shouldn't use exenatide or liraglutide. Laboratory studies have associated these drugs with thyroid tumors in rats. Until more long-term studies are completed, the risk to humans for developing these types of tumors as a result of using these drugs isn't known.
These drugs are designed for people who have type 2 diabetes and haven't been studied as a weight-loss aid in people who have normal blood sugar. If you have diabetes and wonder if Byetta, Bydureon or Victoza may be helpful, talk to your doctor.
Next questionCaffeine: Does it affect blood sugar?
- Byetta (prescribing information). San Diego, Calif.: Amylin Pharmaceuticals; 2009. http://pi.lilly.com/us/byetta-pi.pdf. Accessed March 19, 2012.
- Dungan K. Glucagon-like peptide-1-based therapies for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index. Accessed March 21, 2012.
- FDA: Byetta label revised to include safety information on possible kidney problems. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm188708.htm. Accessed March 19, 2012.
- Information for healthcare professionals: Exenatide (marketed as Byetta): 8/2008 update. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/PostmarketDrugSafetyInformationforPatientsandProviders/ucm124713.htm. Accessed March 19, 2012.
- FDA approves new treatment for type 2 diabetes. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/2010/ucm198638.htm. Accessed March 20, 2012.
- Victoza (prescribing information). Bagsvaerd, Denmark: Novo Nordisk; 2010. http://www.novo-pi.com/victoza.pdf. Accessed March 20, 2011.
- Medication guide: Victoza. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2011/022341s004MedG.pdf. Accessed March 20, 2012.
- Neff LM, et al. Emerging role of GLP-1 receptor agonists in the treatment of obesity. Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity: Targets and Therapy. 2010;3:263. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3047971/. Accessed March 21, 2012.
- Bydureon (prescribing information). San Diego, Calif.: Amylin Pharmaceuticals; 2012. http://documents.bydureon.com/Bydureon_PI.pdf. Accessed March 21, 2012.
- Medication Guide: Bydureon. San Diego, Calif.: Amylin Pharmaceuticals; 2012. http://documents.bydureon.com/Bydureon_Medication_Guide.pdf. Accessed March 21, 2012.
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