Yang Zhou1*
Weihao Jiang2- 1Department of Pharmacy, The Fifth People’s Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine/Chengdu Fifth People’s Hospital, Chengdu, China
- 2Department of Pharmacy, Chengdu Institute of Brain Science Clinical Hospital, University of Electronic Science and Technology/Chengdu Fourth People’s Hospital, Chengdu, China
1 Introduction
Glucagon like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RA), as a new generation of hypoglycemic drugs, can simulate the physiological effects of GLP-1 and have multiple clinical advantages such as lowering blood sugar, weight loss, and cardiovascular benefits (Chinese Medical Association Diabetes Branch, 2021).
Dulaglutide belongs to GLP-1RA and was approved for marketing in China in 2019 (Zheng et al., 2020). Common adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are mainly gastrointestinal reactions (Chinese Society of Endocrinology and and Chinese Society of Diabetes, 2020). At present, there are relatively few case reports on ADR. Based on existing case reports at home and abroad, this study aims to analyze the characteristics of ADR occurrence and development related to this drug, and provide reference for safe clinical use.
2 Data and methods
2.1 Source of information
Retrieve databases from China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang, and VIP PubMed、Web of Science. The Chinese search terms are “dulaglutide”, “adverse reactions”, and “case reports”; The English search terms are “dulaglutide”, “dulaglutide induced”, “dulaglutide related”, “adverse reaction”, and “case report”. The search period is from September 2014 to March 2025, excluding literature with unclear descriptions and duplicate cases. A total of 21 articles (Okiro et al., 2017; Taylor and Moody, 2018; Hamann et al., 2019; Rajput et al., 2018; Fukuda et al., 2019; Patel et al., 2019; Lee et al., 2021; Moore et al., 2024; Rzepka and Kaffenberger, 2020; Kalas et al., 2021; Butler et al., 2021; Kohli et al., 2021; Karakousis et al., 2021; Kyriakos et al., 2022; Samhani et al., 2024; Sonego et al., 2023; Vaccaro et al., 2023; Baker Khan et al., 2023; Shahbazi et al., 2023; Wang et al., 2023; Zhang et al., 2024) (involving 22 patients) were obtained that meet the criteria, including 20 English articles involving 21 patients; One Chinese literature article involving one patient.
2.2 Methods
The basic information of each ADR case study was counted, with information on gender, age, underlying disease, dulaglutide administration, and time of ADR occurrence, clinical presentation, management and regression of all patients.
3 Results
3.1 Basic information of patient
A total of 21 case studies containing 22 patients were included in this study. All of these cases were reported from 2017 to 2024, of which 10 were from the United States, 2 were from Ireland, 2 were from China, and individual cases from countries such as Denmark, France, and Greece were also included, and their basic profiles are shown in Table 1. The 22 patients included in the study consisted of 12 males and 10 females, and their underlying diseases were all diabetes mellitus, except for one case (Baker Khan et al., 2023), which was type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and one (Zhang et al., 2024) had latent autoimmune diabetes mellitus (LADA) in adults, all other patients had type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Common comorbidities in these patients included hypertension, hyperlipidemia, obesity, coronary artery disease, hyperuricemia, hyperthyroidism or disorders, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), heart failure, coronary artery disease (CAD), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The dosage of dulaglutide was 0.75 or 1.5 mg per week in all patients except for 6 (Hamann et al., 2019; Patel et al., 2019; Rzepka and Kaffenberger, 2020; Kohli et al., 2021; Vaccaro et al., 2023; Zhang et al., 2024)patients with incomplete information, 1 (Butler et al., 2021) patient with a dulaglutide dosing regimen of 2 mg per week and 1 (Samhani et al., 2024) patient with a dulaglutide dosing regimen of 3 mg per week. In addition, it is noteworthy that 4 (Rajput et al., 2018; Samhani et al., 2024; Baker Khan et al., 2023; Shahbazi et al., 2023) patients had ADRs that occurred only after the dosing dose had risen, and the original dosing dose did not contribute to the occurrence of the ADRs. The correlation between ADRs and the use of Dulaglutide in 22 patients was evaluated as “possible” according to the Measures for the Reporting and Monitoring of Adverse Drug Reactions. Most of the patients used 1-4 kinds of combination drugs, mainly hypoglycemic drugs, antihypertensive drugs, lipid regulating drugs and antiplatelet drugs. Common hypoglycemic agents are metformin, sulfonylurea hypoglycemic agents and insulin, common antihypertensive agents are amlodipine and bisoprolol, common lipid regulating agents are simvastatin and resuvastatin, and antiplatelet agents are mainly aspirin. Referring to the drug inserts of the above co-administered drugs, no significant interaction with Dulaglutide has been observed. However, maintenance or gradual reduction of insulin dose should be considered when using Dulaglutide, which may increase the risk of diabetic ketoacidosis if the dose is reduced or discontinued too rapidly. The gender and age distribution of the patients is shown in Table 2.
Table 1. Basic information of case study research.
Table 2. Distribution of the patients’gender and age [case (%), n = 22].
3.2 Characteristics of ADR occurrence
The vast majority of patients experienced ADR within 15 months after medication (21 cases, 95.45%), with a higher incidence within 2 months after medication (19 cases, 86.36%). It is worth noting that in 3 patients (Rajput et al., 2018; Baker Khan et al., 2023; Shahbazi et al., 2023), the dosage of dulaglutide increased from 0.75 mg per week to 1.5 mg per week, and in 1 patient (Samhani et al., 2024), it increased from 1.5 mg per week to 3 mg per week. No adverse drug reactions occurred before the dosage doubled. The occurrence time and clinical manifestations of ADR are detailed in Table 3. The organs or systems most commonly affected by ADR are the skin and its appendages (6 cases, 27.27%), the digestive system (5 cases, 22.73%), and the circulatory system (5 cases, 22.73%). The organs/systems and clinical symptoms affected by ADR are shown in Table 4.
Table 3. Types and onset of adverse drug reactions (n = 22).
Table 4. ADR involved organs/systems and types of diseases (n = 22).
Among all 22 patients, 21 improved after discontinuation of medication or symptomatic supportive treatment, while 1 patient (Kohli et al., 2021) had a poor prognosis due to severe allergic reactions and developed ischemic brain injury. The ADR observed in this patient is Kounis syndrome (Han et al., 2024), also known as ST segment elevation acute coronary syndrome associated with allergies. It occurs due to allergic reactions to disease, food, medication, or environmental factors, which may be accompanied by rash, urticaria, skin itching, nausea, vomiting, wheezing, and angioedema; This disease has an impact on the coronary artery system, leading to the occurrence of acute coronary syndrome. At present, the academic community’s attention and research depth on this disease are clearly insufficient. Although there are some related reports, most of them are individual case reports. The control of ADR is symptomatic treatment, such as the use of antihistamines or glucocorticoids for allergic reactions, wound drainage for severe skin infections, the use of cardiovascular disease-related drugs for circulatory system symptoms, or surgical treatment for severe cases. It should be noted that two patients did not stop using dulaglutide. One case (Moore et al., 2024) had hypoglycemia due to not following the weekly dosage of 1.5 mg dulaglutide as prescribed by the doctor, but instead using 1.5 mg dulaglutide daily. After following the correct doctor’s advice and reducing insulin dosage appropriately, her symptoms improved significantly. The other patient (Butler et al., 2021) underwent cholecystectomy to treat acute cholecystitis induced by dulaglutide. The patient continued to use dulaglutide after surgery, and there was no recurrence of gallstones or other abdominal symptoms 8 months after the initial cholecystitis event. The performance, handling, and outcome of ADR are detailed in Table 5.
Table 5. Clinical manifestation, treatments and outcomes of ADRs.
4 Discussions
4.1 Common ADR types using dulaglutide
The common ADRs in the drug instructions of Dulaglutide are gastrointestinal reactions, including nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. In addition, there are conditions such as hypoglycemia, acute pancreatitis, increased heart rate, allergic reactions, aggravation of cholecystitis and atrial fibrillation. However, gangrenous pyoderma, measles like drug eruption, bullous pemphigoid, and the risk of liver damage associated with drugs that involve the skin are not included in their instructions and should be considered as new ADRs. Among them, gangrenous pyoderma and bullous pemphigoid have a more severe degree of occurrence and are considered as new severe ADRs.
4.2 ADR in relation to gender, age and dose and duration of medication administration
The gender difference of the cases included in this study was not significant, and the age was more than 50 years old (17 cases, 77.27%), which is consistent with the common age of onset of T2DM. With increasing age, the body’s hepatic and renal metabolic capacity decreases, which is one of the factors for the increase in ADR. The dosage of the drug in 14 patients in this study was 0.75–1.5 mg per week, which is a routine dosage. Although a study (Van et al., 2021) found no significant difference in the incidence of ADRs in patients after using dulaglutide at high doses (3.0 mg and 4.5 mg per week) compared to 1.5 mg per week, it is still recommended to use it according to the drug’s instructions and should not arbitrarily increase the dose. The results of this study showed that the time span of ADR occurrence of dulaglutide was relatively large, with an extreme value gap of more than 15 months. Therefore, it is important to closely monitor patients when starting Dulaglutide.
4.3 ADR accumulation system and clinical presentation
Skin and adnexa: It has been shown that dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors are correlated with herpetic pemphigoid (Arai et al., 2018), and GLP-1RA may also damage the skin due to the expression of the GLP-1 receptor in cutaneous fibroblasts and keratin-forming cells (Gether et al., 2019). Therefore, GLP-1RA and DPP-4 inhibitors may have similar mechanisms for causing skin and adnexal damage, and it is recommended that patients should be specifically asked in detail about their past drug history and allergy history before administration. Circulatory system: GLP-1 receptors are found in the human pancreas, intestine and heart (Thompson and Trujillo, 2015). Animal experiments have shown that activation of GLP-1 receptors in the autonomic nervous system enhances the activity of the sympathetic nervous system and attenuates the activity of the parasympathetic nervous system. It has been suggested that overactivation of myocardial GLP-1 receptors may increase the risk of exacerbation of atrial fibrillation in patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (Luo et al., 2020). In addition, regarding the formation of cerebral venous thrombosis may be related to dehydration due to nausea and vomiting in patients. Although the incidence of circulatory ADRs with dulaglutide is low, it still needs to be emphasized and should be used with caution in patients with previous arrhythmias. Digestive system: Gastrointestinal reactions are the most common type of ADR with Dulaglutide. According to a survey in China, gastrointestinal reactions were most pronounced in the first 2 weeks of treatment (Guo et al., 2020), and the dulaglutide drug insert also mentions a cumulative 104-week reported incidence of gastrointestinal adverse events when dulaglutide 0.75 mg and 1.5 mg were used weekly, respectively, including nausea (12.9% and 21.2%), diarrhea (10.7% and 13.7%), and vomiting (6.9% and 11.5%), mostly mild or moderate, so patients need to be evaluated for gastrointestinal disorders prior to administration. In addition, the drug delays gastric emptying and prolongs gallbladder contraction, which may increase the risk of gallbladder-related disorders.
4.4 Recommendations for pharmacovigilance of GLP-1RA analogs
An adverse reaction signal mining study based on the OpenFDA database (Dong and Wang, 2022) showed that GLP-1RA analogs were highly associated with ADRs such as pancreatitis, cholelithiasis, hypoglycemia, dizziness, urticaria, and injection site reactions. Liraglutide and exenatide had a higher incidence of digestive ADRs compared to dulaglutide. In addition, liraglutide had the highest incidence of acute kidney injury, exenatide had the highest incidence of hypoglycemia, and the use of dulaglutide was associated with a lower probability of ADRs involving the gastrointestinal, urinary, and endocrine systems compared with the former two. However, dulaglutide and exenatide were more prone to injection site reactions, such as localized augmentation and inflammation, compared to other types of GLP-1RAs. Taking into account the cases collected in this study and the actual clinical application, it is recommended that medical personnel start using dulaglutide at a small dose, pay attention to the patients’ previous drug history and allergy history before use, and promptly deal with ADRs when they are detected. Usually, patients with hepatic impairment do not need to adjust the dosage, but the monitoring of hepatic and renal functions should be strengthened during the use of the drug. In addition, the drug should be used with caution in patients with previous cardiac arrhythmias and acute and chronic renal impairment. If pancreatitis is suspected, it should be discontinued gradually. Dulaglutide should not be reused in patients with pancreatitis.
5 Conclusion
To sum up, dulaglutide, as a new hypoglycemic drug, provides a new choice for the treatment of diabetes, but its ADR cannot be ignored. The ADR caused by dulaglutide included in this study involves multiple systems, and some ADRs are not included in its drug instructions. With the widespread use of the drug, there may be more unknown ADRs. Medical staff need to continuously strengthen their understanding of dulaglutide ADR, especially in strengthening medication monitoring for patients with multiple comorbidities. Meanwhile, further research is needed on the mechanism of ADR of dulaglutide.
Data availability statement
The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.
Ethics statement
Ethical approval was not required for the study involving humans in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements. Written informed consent to participate in this study was not required from the participants or the participants’ legal guardians/next of kin in accordance with the national legislation and the institutional requirements. The manuscript presents research on animals that do not require ethical approval for their study. Written informed consent was not obtained from the individual(s) for the publication of any potentially identifiable images or data included in this article because All cases are from published major literature.
Author contributions
YZ: Writing – review and editing, Writing – original draft. WJ: Writing – review and editing.
Funding
The author(s) declared that financial support was not received for this work and/or its publication.
Conflict of interest
The author(s) declared that this work was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
Generative AI statement
The author(s) declared that generative AI was not used in the creation of this manuscript.
Any alternative text (alt text) provided alongside figures in this article has been generated by Frontiers with the support of artificial intelligence and reasonable efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, including review by the authors wherever possible. If you identify any issues, please contact us.
Publisher’s note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
References
Arai, M., Shirakawa, J., Konishi, H., Sagawa, N., and Terauchi, Y. (2018). Bullous pemphigoid and dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitors: a disproportionality analysis based on the Japanese adverse drug event report database. Diabetes Care 41 (9), e130–e132. doi:10.2337/dc18-0210
baker Khan, A., Shah, A., Ahmad, S., Khan, M. I., Amir, A., and Amir, A. (2023). Dulaglutide (trulicity)-induced acute pancreatitis: a case report. Cureus 15 (5), e38630. doi:10.7759/cureus.38630
Butler, J., Bjurstrom, M., and Marceau, A. (2021). Possible dulaglutide-associated cholecystitis with safe continuation post cholecystectomy. Am. J. Health Syst. Pharm. 78 (8), 684–688. doi:10.1093/ajhp/zxab045
Chinese Medical Association Diabetes Branch (2021). Guidelines for the prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus in China (2020 edition). Chin. J. Diabetes 13 (4), 315–409.
Chinese Society of Endocrinology, and Chinese Society of Diabetes (2020). Clinical expert consensus on the use of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Chin. J. Intern Med. 59 (11), 836–846.
Dong, S., and Wang, J. (2022). Mining and analysis of adverse reaction signals of glucagon like peptide-1 receptor agonists based on open FDA database. Chin. Pharm. 33 (12), 1485–1491. doi:10.6039/j.issn.1001-0408.2022.12.13
Fukuda, G., Yoshida, T., Hirayama, A., Umezawa, Y., and Takemoto, M. (2019). Dulaglutide-related bullous pemphigoid in a patient with type 2 diabetes: a case report. Geriatr. Gerontol. Int. 19 (12), 1289–1290. doi:10.1111/ggi.13799
Gether, I. M., Nexøe-Larsen, C., and Knop, F. K. (2019). New avenues in the regulation of gallbladder motility—implications for the use of glucagon-like peptide-derived drugs. J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. 104 (7), 2463–2472. doi:10.1210/jc.2018-01008
Guo, L., Zhang, B., Hou, J., and Zhou, Z. (2020). Evaluation of characteristics of gastrointestinal adverse events with once-weekly dulaglutide treatment in Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes: a post hoc pooled analysis of two randomized trials. Diabetes Ther. 11 (8), 1821–1833. doi:10.1007/s13300-020-00869-z
Hamann, C. R., Chung, C., and Kaffenberger, B. H. (2019). Pyoderma gangrenosum associated with dulaglutide therapy. Int. J. Dermatol. 58 (10), 1202–1204. doi:10.1111/ijd.14272
Han, D., Niu, D., and Zhao, H. (2024). Progress in the study of kunis syndrome. Adv. Cardiovasc. Dis. 45 (04), 332–335.
Kalas, M. A., Galura, G. M., and Mccallum, R. W. (2021). Medication-induced gastroparesis: a case report. J. Investig. Med. High. Impact Case Rep. 9, 23247096211051919. doi:10.1177/23247096211051919
Karakousis, N., Kostakopoulos, N. A., Georgakopoulou, V. E., Pyrgioti, E. E., and Georgakopoulos, P. N. (2021). A rare case of dulaglutide-associated angioedema in a male patient. Cureus 13 (11), e20041. doi:10.7759/cureus.20041
Kohli, V., Saba, Y., Sonti, S., and Kahloon, R. (2021). TYPE II kounis syndrome in a patient with anaphylaxis to dulaglutide. J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. 77 (18_Suppl. ment_1), 2557. doi:10.1016/S0735-1097(21)03912-7
Kyriakos, G., Diamantis, E., Memi, E., and Elefsiniotis, I. (2022). An uncommon case of dulaglutide-related morbilliform drug eruption. Cureus 14 (1), e21536. doi:10.7759/cureus.21536
Lee, J., Umana, I. E., and Nguyen, J. (2021). Exacerbation of atrial fibrillation related to dulaglutide use. Clin. Case Rep. 9 (5), e04223. doi:10.1002/ccr3.4223
Luo, J., Feldman, R., Rothenberger, S. D., Hernandez, I., and Gellad, W. F. (2020). Coverage, formulary restrictions, and out-of-pocket costs for sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors and glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists in the medicare part D program. JAMA Netw. Open 3 (10), e2020969. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.20969
Moore, H. E., Zaya, V., Burns, C. V., and Berlie, H. D. (2024). Accidental once-daily use of dulaglutide: a case report. Clin. Diabetes 42 (3), 454–457. doi:10.2337/cd23-0035
Okiro, J. O., Mc Huhg, C., and Abdalla, A. (2017). Is it safe to acutely discontinue insulin therapy in patients with chronic hyperglycaemia starting GLP-1R agonists? BMJ Case Rep. 2017. bcr-2017-220437. doi:10.1136/bcr-2017-220437
Patel, A. V., Jotwani, P. M., and Lee, T. P. (2019). Drug-induced liver injury due to dulaglutide use. Am. J. Ther. 26 (5), e620–e622. doi:10.1097/MJT.0000000000000826
Rajput, R., Pathak, V., Yadav, P. K., and Mishra, S. (2018). Dulaglutide-induced cerebral venous thrombosis in a patient with type 2 diabetes mellitus. BMJ Case Rep. 2018, bcr2018226346. doi:10.1136/bcr-2018-226346
Rzepka, P. V., and Kaffenberger, J. A. (2020). A case of morbilliform drug eruption to dulaglutide. J. Clin. Aesthet. Dermatol. 13 (4), 13.
Samhani, C., Guerci, B., and Larose, C. (2024). Cutaneous hypersensitivity reaction to dulaglutide: a case report of an allergic reaction. Diabetes Metab. 50 (5), 101552. doi:10.1016/j.diabet.2024.101552
Shahbazi, M., Qudsiya, Z., Fahel, A., Amini, A., and Tanoli, T. (2023). First reported case of dulaglutide-induced acute pancreatitis with normal serum lipase level. Cureus 15 (6), e40576. doi:10.7759/cureus.40576
Sonego, B., Zelin, E., Zalaudek, I., and di Meo, N. (2023). Bullous pemphigoid triggered by dulaglutide: a case report and a review of the literature. Dermatol. Rep. 15 (3), 9676. doi:10.4081/dr.2023.9676
Taylor, S. R., and Moody, M. T. (2018). Acute kidney injury occurring in a patient initiated on dulaglutide. J. Pharm. Technol. 34 (5), 231–232. doi:10.1177/8755122518782155
Thompson, A. M., and Trujillo, J. M. (2015). Dulaglutide: the newest GLP-1 receptor agonist for the management of type 2 diabetes. Ann. Pharmacother. 49 (3), 351–359. doi:10.1177/1060028014564180
Vaccaro, C. J., Zaidi, S. M. H., Iskander, P. A., and McFadden, E. (2023). A case of dulaglutide-induced vaginal bleed. Cureus 15 (5), e38774. doi:10.7759/cureus.38774
Van, J., Frias, J. P., Bonora, E., Raha, S., Meyer, J., Jung, H., et al. (2021). Gastrointestinal tolerability of once-weekly dulaglutide 3.0 mg and 4.5 mg: a post hoc analysis of the incidence and prevalence of nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea in AWARD-11. Diabetes Ther. 12 (10), 2783–2794. doi:10.1007/s13300-021-01140-9
Wang, J., Dai, H., Yang, B., Zhang, Y., and Yang, Z. (2023). Dulaglutide-associated myocardial infarction in a case. China Mod. Appl. Pharmacol. 40 (10), 1390–1391.
Zhang, J., Ma, Y., Zu, Q., Wang, X., and Zhang, Y. (2024). GLP-1 receptor agonist-induced diabetic ketoacidosis: a case report. Med. Baltim. 103 (39), e39799. doi:10.1097/MD.0000000000039799
Keywords: adverse drug reactions, case, dulaglutide, literature, medication safety
Citation: Zhou Y and Jiang W (2026) Case study on adverse reactions of dulaglutide: literature review. Front. Pharmacol. 17:1736083. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2026.1736083
Received: 30 October 2025; Accepted: 14 January 2026;
Published: 30 January 2026.
Edited by:
Daniele Maria-Ferreira, Instituto de Pesquisa Pelé Pequeno Príncipe, BrazilReviewed by:
Clément Larose, Laval University, CanadaAmita Sutaria, B.J. Medical College and Civil hospital, India
Copyright © 2026 Zhou and Jiang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Yang Zhou, enkwMkAxNjMuY29t