A new injectable diabetes drug given once every two weeks reduced blood sugar and body weight in a clinical trial, according to results published in Annals of Internal Medicine on June 30. The drug, called bofanglutide, is being developed by Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals in Beijing, China. Most existing GLP-1 drugs, including Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro, require weekly injections.
The phase 2b randomized trial enrolled 272 adults with type 2 diabetes, with an average age of 50.8, across 37 sites in China. Participants were divided into five groups. Three received bofanglutide at different doses given every two weeks: 12 mg, 18 mg, and 24 mg. A fourth group received bofanglutide 24 mg once weekly. A fifth group received semaglutide 1 mg once weekly, which served as a comparison. Researchers measured changes in HbA1c levels, a standard marker of blood sugar control, from the start of the trial through 24 weeks.
All bofanglutide groups showed significant reductions in blood sugar by the end of the 24-week period, according to Healthline. Participants also experienced weight loss and improvements in cardiometabolic risk factors. In some cases, blood sugar reductions among those taking bofanglutide were slightly greater than those in the semaglutide group, though the semaglutide group received a relatively low dose.
Mir Ali, MD, medical director of the MemorialCare Surgical Weight Loss Center at Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, California, who was not involved in the study, noted that more data is needed before drawing broad conclusions. "More real-world comparisons are needed to determine whether this would be more effective than semaglutide," he said.
Clare Thompson, a general practitioner and lead of the weight management service at Cadogan Clinic in the United Kingdom, also reviewed the findings. She was not part of the research team. Thompson pointed to several limitations in the study design. "The study is limited by its relatively small size and by population data from a Chinese cohort, where the starting BMI may be much lower than in Western populations," she told Healthline. She also noted that the trial did not track what happens to patients after they stop the medication or reduce their dose. "[It] does not show what happens to patients after stopping these medications or titrating down to a maintenance dose. Twenty-four weeks is quite a short observation period for drawing full and meaningful conclusions," she said.
If bofanglutide eventually receives regulatory approval, it could offer a less frequent injection schedule for patients who find weekly shots difficult. Researchers noted that further and larger trials will be needed to establish how the drug performs across different populations and at full therapeutic doses of existing comparator drugs.
