Objective To systematically evaluate the effects of 5 Chinese patent medicines combined with metformin in the treatment of type 2 diabetes（T2 DM）. Methods PubMed

Web of Science

Cochrane Library

CNKI

Wanfang Data

and China Biomedical Literature Service System database were searched to obtain literature of randomize controlled trial（RCT） of T2 MD treated with Liuwei Dihuang Pills（六味地黄丸

LDP）

Xiaoke Pills（消渴丸）

Jinlida（津力达）

Shenqi Jiangtang Granules or capsules

tablets（参芪降糖颗粒/胶囊） referred to as Shenqi Jiangtang and Tianqi Jiangtang Capsule/granule/tablet（天芪降糖胶囊/片） referred to as Tianqi Jiangtang combined with metformin. The retrieval data was from the establishment of the database to April 10 th 2020. After literature screening

data extraction

and evaluation of the risk of bias in the included studies

the effectiveness of different outcome indicators including glycosylated hemoglobin（HbA1 c）

fasting blood glucose（FBG）

total cholesterol（TC）

and triglycerides（TG） were evaluated by using network Meta analysis method and the cumulative ranking probability area under the curve. Results A total of 42 RCTs involving 4356 patients were included. The results of network Meta-analysis showed that compared with metformin group

LDP[MD=-0.85

95%CI（-1.08

-0.62）]

Xiaoke Pills[MD=-0.76

95%CI（-1.28

-0.25）]

Jinlida[MD=-1.16

95%CI（-1.59

-0.73）] and Shenqi Jiangtang [MD=-1.14

95%CI（-1.43

-0.85）] combined with metformin respectively

could have significant decrease in HbA1 c（P<0.05）

in which Jinlida was the best choice; LDP [MD=-1.02

95%CI（-1.37

-0.67）]

Xiaoke Pills [MD=-0.71

95%CI（-1.42

-0.01）]

Jinlida [MD=-2.10

95%CI（-2.89

-1.31）] and Shenqi Jiangtang[MD=-1.00

95%CI（-1.52

-0.48）]

Tianqi Jiangtang[MD=-1.05

95%CI（-2.02

-0.09）] combined with metformin respectively

could have significant decrease in FBG（P<0.05）

in which Jinlida was the best choice; LDP combined with metformin could have significant decrease in TC[MD=-0.96

95%CI（-1.42

-0.50）]and TG[MD=-0.45

95%CI（-0.78

-0.12）]（P<0.01）. There was no statistically significant difference in other proprietary Chinese medicines（P>0.05）. Conclusion Five Chinese patent medicines combined with metformin can improve blood glucose and blood lipid indexes in T2 DM patients to varying degrees. However

due to the methodological problems in the included studies

it is recommended to choose drugs based on specific clinical conditions.