Saroglitazar, a novel cardiometabolic agent for diabetic dyslipidemia – A Review

Diabetes mellitus is a worldwide prevalent chronic disease with a significant disease burden. The associated dyslipidemia adds to the lethality of type 2 diabetes mellitus and requires newer and better treatment strategies. Peroxisome proliferator activated receptor (PPAR) α and γ agonists are approved hypolipidemic and anti-diabetic agents respectively and combining them together provides a dual benefit in type 2 diabetes mellitus associated with dyslipidemia. This novel class of dual PPAR agonists are termed as “Glitazars” and in 2013, Saroglitazar, a member of this class of drugs; was approved by the Indian regulatory authority Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for the treatment of diabetic dyslipidemia. It is the first glitazar to gain regulatory approval anywhere in the world and is also the first New Chemical Entity (NCE) to be discovered in India. This review provides an overview of this novel drug including its mechanism of action and prospective uses.