Clinical evaluation of efficacy and safety of glimepiride in the treatment of type 2 diabetes

Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of new antidiabetic agent glimepiride (Amaryl ) in the treatment of type 2 diabetes. Methods One hundred and four type 2 diabetic patients without the secondary failure to sulfonylureas were randomly assigned to glimepiride group or glibenclamide group in ratio 2:1. The whole observation lasted 16 weeks. Results Similar decreases in fasting blood glucose, 2h postprandial blood glucose and HbA 1c were showed in both glimepiride and glibenclamide groups. Glimepiride had less effect on increasing 2h postprandial serum insulin and C peptide level than glibenclamide did. In glibenclamide group after treating 16 weeks, postprandial serum insulin and C peptide were significantly higher than that before the treatment (P0.05 and P0.01 respectively). But there was no difference on the fasting serum insulin and C peptide between the two groups. No adverse effect on liver and kidney function, and blood pressure was found. There was a lower incidence of hypoglycemia by glimepiride than by glibenclamide (18.2% vs 33.3%, P0.05). Conclusion Glimepiride is effective and safe in the treatment of type 2 diabetes.