Drug-Drug Interactions Between Glucagon-Like Peptide 1 Receptor Agonists and Oral Medications: A Systematic Review

Glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists (GLP1RAs) are used in the treatment of diabetes and obesity. Their slowing effect of gastric emptying might change oral drug absorption, potentially affecting pharmacokinetics, particularly in the case of medications with a narrow therapeutic index.

The purpose of this systematic review is to summarize data on drug-drug interactions between GLP1RAs and oral drugs.

The PubMed and EMBASE databases were searched up to November, 1st 2023.

We selected pharmacokinetic studies of any injectable GLP1RA given with an oral medication, and product prescribing sheets reporting data without access to the original study.

Two authors independently extracted the data.

Twenty-two reports and six prescribing sheets were included. Treatment with GLP1RAs resulted in unaffected or reduced C_max and delayed t_max of drugs with high solubility and permeability (warfarin, contraceptive pills, acetaminophen), drugs with high solubility and low permeability (angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors), drugs with low solubility and high permeability (statins) and drugs with low solubility and permeability (digoxin). However, the use of GLP1RAs did not exert clinically significant changes in the AUC or differences in clinically relevant endpoints.

The major limitations of the studies that are included in this systematic review are the enrollment of healthy subjects and insufficient data in conditions that might affect pharmacokinetics (e.g., kidney dysfunction).

To conclude, reduced C_max and delayed t_max of drugs co-administered with GLP1RAs are consistent with the known delayed gastric output by the latter. Nevertheless, the overall drug exposure was not considered clinically significant. Dose adjustments are probably not required for simultaneous use of GLP1RAs with oral medications. Still, results should be carefully generalized to cases of background kidney dysfunction or when using drugs with narrow therapeutic index. The study is registered in PROSPERO: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42022332339 .