Mechanism-based Population Modeling of the Effects of Vildagliptin on GLP-1, Glucose, and Insulin in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes

The aim of this study was to build a mechanism-based population pharmacodynamic model to describe and predict the time course of active GLP-1, glucose and insulin in type 2 diabetic patients after treatment with various doses of vildagliptin.
Vildagliptin concentrations, DPP-4 activity, active GLP-1, glucose and insulin concentrations from 13 type 2 diabetic patients after oral vildagliptin doses of 10, 25 or 100 mg and placebo twice daily for 28 days were co-modelled. The population PK/PD model was developed utilizing the MC-PEM algorithm in parallelized S-ADAPT version 1.56.
In the PD model, active GLP-1 production was stimulated by gastrointestinal intake of nutrients. Active GLP-1 was primarily metabolized by DPP-4 and an additional non-saturable pathway. Increased plasma glucose stimulated secretion of insulin which stimulated utilization of glucose. Active GLP-1 stimulated both glucose-dependent insulin secretion and insulin-dependent glucose utilization. Complete inhibition of DPP-4 resulted in an approximately 2.5-fold increase of active GLP-1 half-life.
The effects of vildagliptin in patients with type 2 diabetes on several PD endpoints were successfully described by the proposed model. The mechanisms of vildagliptin on glycaemic control could be evaluated from a variety of aspects such as effects of DPP-4 on GLP-1, effects of GLP-1 on insulin secretion and effects on hepatic and peripheral insulin sensitivity. The present model can be used to predict the effects of other dosage regimens of vildagliptin on DPP-4 inhibition, active GLP-1, glucose and insulin concentrations, or can be modified and applied to other incretin-related anti-diabetes therapies.