Dear Authors,

I am pleased to review your submitted manuscript. You have demonstrated the efficacy of the combination of dapagliflozin and lobeglitazone on glucose concentrations and body fat in patients with T2DM.

The results are impressive, clinically informative, and will add to the knowledge of readers.

However, there seem to be several important issues. In particular, the first problem could be fatal.

1. Based on the description in the "Methods"-"Statistical analysis" section and the table, there is a possibility that the issue of multiple comparisons, which is problematic in three-group comparisons, was not considered. If this were the case, the results and discussion would be significantly altered. If necessary, a biostatistician should be invited as a co-author.

2. There is no description of the sample size (including on clinicaltrials.gov). Since this is an RCT, it is essential to specify the size obtained by statistical methods, and especially for comparisons between three groups, the calculation process and validity of the sample size should be clearly stated.

3. Please provide a breakdown of the study population, including the 11 dropouts. If possible, as a flow chart. It may be related to adverse events.

4. Please state the method and factors used for allocation.

5. Regarding the effect of SGLT2i and TZD on liver, Ito D, et al. Diabetes 2017 has already shown the improvement effect of pioglitazone through adiponectin in clinical research, even if it is limited to T2D with NAFLD. It could be a good reference for your discussion. By the way, I declare that I am not Mr. Ito or his collaborator.

6. There is no description of the limitations of this study. Really?

7. There may be an error in the description of the number of supplementary tables.

8. It may be a technical error during conversion to PDF, but each group in Supplementary Figure 1 appears to end shorter than the 6 months. Please confirm.

Dear Authors,

Thank you for your prompt and thoughtful responses to my questions and comments. I am particularly pleased that you have addressed the concerns regarding the statistical analysis and sample size. These changes have significantly improved the quality of the manuscript and addressed the main concerns.
I have no further questions or comments.