GLP-1 agonist · type 2 diabetes
Albiglutide is a long-acting GLP-1 receptor agonist made by fusing two copies of a modified GLP-1 peptide to human albumin. It was approved in the US as Tanzeum to help control blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes, but it is no longer marketed.
GLP-1 is a gut hormone released after meals. Acting on GLP-1 receptors, it increases insulin release when blood glucose is high and slows stomach emptying, and the FDA label describes both effects for albiglutide1. Natural GLP-1 is quickly broken down by the enzyme DPP-4.
In albiglutide, the alanine at position 8 of each GLP-1 copy is replaced with glycine to resist DPP-4, and the attached albumin protein slows clearance, giving a half-life of about five days1. Because the molecule is a large fusion protein, it was produced in genetically modified yeast rather than built by chemical synthesis1.
Albiglutide was studied in the HARMONY phase 3 program. In HARMONY 7, an open-label head-to-head trial in 841 adults with type 2 diabetes, HbA1c fell 0.78 percentage points over 32 weeks with albiglutide versus 0.99 with liraglutide, so non-inferiority was not shown; albiglutide caused more injection-site reactions but fewer gastrointestinal events2. The HARMONY Outcomes trial randomized 9,463 people aged 40 or older with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease to albiglutide or placebo on top of usual care. Over a median 1.6 years, heart attack, stroke or cardiovascular death occurred in 7% versus 9% (hazard ratio 0.78), meeting the test for superiority over placebo; rates of pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer did not differ meaningfully between groups, and no medullary thyroid cancer was seen3.
The FDA approved albiglutide (Tanzeum, GlaxoSmithKline) in 2014 as an add-on to diet and exercise for blood sugar control in adults with type 2 diabetes. Its US listing is now marked discontinued, so it is no longer available4.
In the label, reactions seen in at least 5% of users and more often than with placebo were upper respiratory infection, diarrhea, nausea, injection-site reactions, cough, back pain, joint pain, sinusitis and flu. A boxed warning covered thyroid C-cell tumors, which other GLP-1 drugs caused in rodents; the label also warned about pancreatitis, low blood sugar when combined with insulin or sulfonylureas, serious allergic reactions, and acute kidney injury1.
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