The past weekend has seen a number of major data presentations at the American Diabetes Association (ADA) conference 2026.
While Clinical Trials Arena already wrapped up the major obesity readouts, there were also significant updates in the type 1 and type 2 diabetes space, including data readouts from Roche, MannKind Corporation and Amgen.
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According to GlobalData’s report, ‘Type 2 Diabetes Market Size and Trends’, the market in the nine major markets (9MM: US, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK, Japan, China, and India) will reach $136.2bn in 2029 compared to the $45.9bn seen in 2019.
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Roche’s T1 diabetes drug reduces A1C
Roche presented data from its randomised Phase II study of acmopatide in patients with type 1 diabetes who were classified as having overweight or obesity (body mass index (BMI) greater than or equal to 27 kg/m²).
Treatment with acmopatide improved blood glucose management while reducing body weight and insulin requirements in the study group. In patients who received 4.1mg of CT-868, A1C levels decreased by 0.34% from baseline, and 56% of participants achieved an A1C below 7%, the recommended A1C target for diabetes management.
Acmopatide also led to dose-dependent weight loss of up to 7% and reduced insulin use by up to 15%, compared with placebo. The treatment was generally well tolerated, with no reported safety concerns.
Dr Klara Klein, lead author of the study, said: “Despite significant advances in diabetes care, people living with type 1 diabetes continue to have limited treatment options beyond insulin. These findings highlight the potential for the first incretin therapy developed specifically for type 1 diabetes to expand treatment options for type 1 diabetes with the potential to improve glycaemic control, support weight management, and ultimately reduce the burden of type 1 diabetes-related complications.”
More positive results for inhaled insulin
Quickly off the back of its approval, MannKind’s inhaled insulin, Afrezza, produced further positive data.
At ADA 2026, post-hoc analysis from INHALE-1 (NCT04974528) in paediatric patients found that those treated with inhaled insulin reported statistically greater improvements in treatment satisfaction compared to RAA across both teens and parents, while achieving similar overall glycaemic outcomes.
Subgroup analysis from the same study evaluated the efficacy and safety of inhaled insulin compared to rapid‑acting insulin analogues (RAA), with inhaled insulin achieving a non-inferior mean HbA1c compared with RAA.
Inhaled insulin also demonstrated comparable efficacy, with nominally reduced postprandial glucose excursions and fewer hypoglycaemic events compared to RAA in regard to mealtime dosing.
The drug gained approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) just recently, on 29 May 2026, for use in children and adolescents aged six and older living with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. This approval expands Afrezza’s availability beyond adults, introducing a new mealtime insulin option for paediatric patients and caregivers. The FDA approval is supported by results from the pivotal INHALE‑1 clinical trial.
Amgen’s Repatha lowers LDL-C in high-risk diabetes patients
Amgen revealed data from a subgroup of patients with high-risk diabetes and elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) without prior heart attack or stroke who were dosed with Repatha (evolocumab) in the Phase III VESALIUS-CV trial (NCT03872401).
Results from the analysis of 6,002 patients demonstrated that Repatha, when added to statins or other LDL-C-lowering therapies, reduced the risk of the composite primary endpoint of coronary heart disease death, myocardial infarction or ischemic stroke (3-P MACE) by 29% compared with placebo.
Repatha also reduced the risk of a second composite primary endpoint that included ischemia-driven revascularisation (4-P MACE) by 21%. The median achieved LDL-C was 45 mg/dL in the Repatha arm compared to 106 mg/dL with placebo.
Approximately one-third and one-fifth of patients were on a sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor or a GLP-1RA, respectively, at some point during the study. Similar benefits were observed with Repatha regardless of whether patients were treated with these therapies, highlighting the importance of managing multiple risk factors in patients with high-risk diabetes, including treating uncontrolled LDL-C with Repatha.
Dr Jay Bradner, executive vice president, R&D, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data at Amgen, said: “People with diabetes face double the risk of heart attack or stroke compared to those without the condition. These VESALIUS-CV results show that early, intensive LDL-C reduction to 45 mg/dL with Repatha is critical to help prevent life-altering cardiovascular events in those with high-risk disease.”
Lilly’s detailed retatrutide data
At ADA, Lilly offered a more detailed analysis of retatrutide’s safety and efficacy in Type 2 diabetes, following topline data reported in March.
In the TRANSCEND-T2D-1 study (NCT06354660), retatrutide triggered reductions of up to 39.6% in triglycerides, 19.8% in non-HDL cholesterol, 6.4 mmHg in systolic blood pressure, and 4.9 in (12.4 cm) in waist circumference at 40 weeks.
Lilly previously reported that after 40 weeks of treatment, 4mg, 9mg and 12mg doses of retatrutide demonstrated average reductions in A1C of 1.7%, 1.9% and 1.9%, respectively.
Lilly highlights that upwards of 90% of patients on retatrutide achieved an A1C below 7.0%, meeting the ADA’s general target for Type 2 diabetes treatment. Up to 85% of patients hit an A1C of 6.5% or below. Up to 46% of participants achieved an A1C below 5.7%, which is the threshold for normoglycemia.
