Daily Dose: Oral Superabsorbent Hydrogel Cuts Risk for Type 2 Diabetes

Patient Care brings primary care clinicians a lot of medical news every day—it’s easy to miss an important study. The Daily Dose provides a concise summary of one of the website's leading stories you may not have seen.

On October 20, 2022, we reviewed a study presented at the 17th Annual Cardiometabolic Health Congress, that examined the effect of GS200, an investigational non-systemic oral superabsorbent hydrogel, on postprandial hyperinsulinemia and fasting serum insulin (FSI) in persons with prediabetes, independent of weight loss.

The study

The LIGHT-UP study assessed the effects of GS200 vs placebo on weight loss in adults with a body mass index of 27-50 kg/m² and prediabetes or T2D. Effects on postprandial and fasting insulin served as secondary endpoints. Investigators report that reductions in FSI among all study participants randomized to GS200 were significantly greater than among those receiving placebo. In participants with prediabetes specifically, insulin AUC was reduced by 17.0% in participants receiving GS200 and increased by 5.0% in the placebo arms. Further, reduction in postprandial insulin at OGTT T60 and T120 was greater for those with prediabetes taking GS200 vs placebo (p=.05, p=.04, respectively).

Clinical implications

Administration of GS200 in people with prediabetes significantly improved postprandial insulin secretion independently of weight loss and significantly reduced FSI vs placebo in people with prediabetes or T2D, the authors state in their conclusion. They call for additional studies to further investigate the impact of GS200 on prediabetes progression to T2D and on measures of metabolic syndrome.

Click here for the full study review.