Mechanism of Action
Tanzeum (albiglutide) is a GLP-1 receptor agonist, a recombinant fusion protein comprised of 2 tandem copies of modified human GLP-1 genetically fused in tandem to human albumin. The human GLP-1 fragment sequence 7 36 has been modified with a glycine substituted for the naturally-occurring alanine at position 8 in order to confer resistance to dipeptidylpeptidase IV (DPP-IV) mediated proteolysis. The human albumin moiety of the recombinant fusion protein, together with the DPP-IV resistance, extends the half-life allowing once-weekly dosing.