[Treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: cardiovascular safety of incretin-based therapy supported by the ELIXA and TECOS trials].

The risk of morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular disease in patients with type 2 diabetes is about 2-fold higher compared to their non-diabetic counterparts. In December 2008, the Food and Drug Administration published guidelines for the evaluation of cardiovascular risk in new antidiabetic therapies. A shift of emphasis occurred from short-term glycated hemoglobin-centered trials to trials testing cardiovascular safety. The SAVOR-TIMI 53 and the EXAMINE trials with the dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP-4) inhibitors saxagliptin and alogliptin were cardiovascular neutral. The publication of the results of the TECOS trial with sitagliptin, another DPP-4 inhibitor, the American Diabetes Association 2015 presentation of the ELIXA trial with lixisenatide, the first cardiovascular safety trial with glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists, have also been completed. They both show cardiovascular neutrality in very high-risk diabetic patients. The results of these trials are interpreted in the context of diabetic treatment.