Trial design and participants
T2DM
This 16-week, open-label, parallel-arm, randomized, metformin-controlled trial was conducted between March 2022 and October 2022 at the Department of Endocrinology, Shandong Provincial Hospital, Shandong, China. The Ethics Committee of Shandong Provincial Hospital approved the trial protocol (No. 2022-046/February 2022), which complied with the Declaration of Helsinki. Written informed consent was obtained from all the participants. The trial was registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR2200057800).Key inclusion criteria included T2DM diagnosis (according to the 1999 World Health Organization criteria) (