Viera Doničová
New medications are being used to treatment of type 2 diabetes, which are sensitizers of the incretin axis. Incretins are gut hormones responsible for so called incretin effect, whereby insulin secretion is more profound after oral intake of glucose than after its intravenous administration. One of incretins is GLP-1, which acts through GLP-1 receptors on pancreatic cells to stimulate insulin secretion and suppress glucagon secretion, which is chronically elevated in diabetes type 2. Exendin-4 is a natural form of GLP-1 from which a synthetic GLP-1 agonist called Exenatide was derived for use in treatment of type 2 diabetes. Three preparations are currently available commercially: short acting Exenatide administered twice daily, Liraglutide, injected once a day and a GLP-1 activator with prolonged effect, Exenatide QW (EQW), given once a week. Although all three GLP-1 activators are available only in an injectable form, they differ in their pharmacokinetics, effects on glycaemic parameters, body weight, and incidence of adverse events.