Albiglutide

GlaxoSmithKline engineered albiglutide by linking two GLP-1 analog chains to human albumin. That design extended circulation time enough for weekly subcutaneous injections. The product was marketed as Tanzeum for adult type 2 diabetes.

GLP-1 receptor activation increases glucose-dependent insulin secretion, reduces glucagon and slows gastric emptying. Its isolated hypoglycemia risk is relatively low because the insulin effect depends on glucose. Compared with some other GLP-1 medicines, its gastric-emptying and appetite effects were weaker.

Albumin fusion supplied the long duration. HARMONY OUTCOMES demonstrated fewer major cardiovascular events in people with type 2 diabetes and established cardiovascular disease.

Tanzeum received FDA approval in 2014. GSK stopped marketing it in 2018 because of low sales, despite the cardiovascular findings. Regulatory approval and current commercial availability are different: the medicine remains an approved product historically, but is no longer available.

When marketed, it supplemented diet and exercise to improve glucose control in adults with type 2 diabetes. It was not intended for type 1 diabetes. A personal or family history of medullary thyroid carcinoma or MEN2 was a reason not to use it.

Common reactions included diarrhea, nausea, injection-site reactions and upper-respiratory infection. Important risks included pancreatitis, severe allergy or anaphylaxis, hypoglycemia—particularly with insulin or sulfonylureas—and dehydration-associated acute kidney injury. A boxed thyroid C-cell-tumor warning was based on rodent findings; a corresponding human risk was not established.