Real-world glycemic control, exploratory cardiorenal indicators, and safety of polyethylene glycol loxenatide versus semaglutide in type 2 diabetes patients: a Chinese two-center retrospective cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the real-world efficacy and safety of high dose once-weekly glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists polyethylene glycol loxenatide (PEG-Loxe) and subcutaneous (s.c.) semaglutide in patients with suboptimally controlled type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort China two-center study. Patients newly initiated on once-weekly PEG-Loxe 200 μg or s.c. semaglutide 1.0 mg between January 2021 and October 2022 were matched 1:1 using propensity score matching. The primary endpoint was change from baseline in glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) at 24 months. Secondary endpoints included changes in HbA1c, body weight (BW), body mass index (BMI), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), systolic blood pressure (SBP), and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) from baseline to 3, 6, 12, and 24 months. Records of adverse drug reactions were collected and extracted from the institutional medical record system. RESULTS: A total of 510 matched patient pairs demonstrated balanced baseline characteristics. No statistically significant between-group difference was observed in HbA1c changes from baseline across all follow-up assessments ( > 0.05). At month 24, HbA1c was reduced by least-squares mean 2.02% with PEG-Loxe and 2.23% with s.c. semaglutide (estimated treatment difference [ETD] -0.21%, 95% CI: -0.52, -0.10,  = 0.260). Semaglutide was consistently and significantly superior to PEG-Loxe in improving BW (ETD at 24 months: -3.55 kg, 95% CI: -5.22, -1.88,  < 0.001), BMI (ETD -0.82 kg/m, 95%CI: -1.33, -0.32,  = 0.001), LDL-C (ETD -0.51 mmol/L, 95% CI: -0.68, -0.34,  < 0.001), SBP (ETD -2.08 mmHg, 95% CI: -9.33, -0.11,  < 0.001), eGFR [ETD 0.75 mL/(min·1.73m), 95% CI: -2.53, 4.039,  < 0.001]. Gastrointestinal symptoms were the most common safety concern, occurring more frequently in the semaglutide group during the first 3 months ( < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: In real-world clinical practice, at the same high dose, PEG-Loxe provided equivalent glycemic control to s.c. semaglutide with a potential lower incidence of gastrointestinal side effects. Conversely, semaglutide offered more substantial improvement of cardiorenal parameters. These findings highlight the clinical utility of both agents in personalized T2DM management.