Virgo wins major new diabetes launch account
pharmafile | February 26, 2009 | News story | Medical Communications |Â Â VirgoÂ
London-based healthcare PR specialist Virgo Health has won the UK account for new diabetes drug Onglyza.
Due to be launched in the UK later this year, the brand has been developed by Bristol-Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca for the treatment of type II diabetes.
The once-daily therapy was submitted for US and European approval in June last year.
In Europe, the PR will be handled by agencies Clew Communications and Just Health.
A BMS spokeswoman said: "We are in the planning stage. The agencies will be working with us on pre-planning and the launch."
None of the agencies involved would comment.
Onglyza (saxagliptin) is a dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) enzyme inhibitor, a class of compounds that work by affecting the action of natural hormones in the body called incretins.
It is in the same class as drugs already on the market – MSD's Januvia (sitagliptin) and Novartis' Galvus (vildagliptin).
The drug increases the active levels of incretin hormones to enhance patients' own ability to control blood sugar levels.
This is achieved by stimulating the pancreas to increase insulin release and signalling the liver to reduce its production of glucose.
Six core phase III trials involved more than 4,000 patients, including 3,000 who were treated with Onglyza.
The drug was found to produce significant reductions in key measures of glucose control (glycosylated haemoglobin level, fasting plasma glucose and postprandial glucose) compared to placebo.
Phase III data was presented in combination with metformin, the most commonly prescribed oral anti-diabetic, as well as when used as monotherapy in treatment-naive individuals.
DPP-4 inhibitors threaten other oral diabetes treatments such as GSK's Avandia (rosiglitazone), since they are as effective at lowering blood sugar levels, but have fewer side-effects such as weight gain.
BMS and AstraZeneca formed their partnership in January 2007 to research, develop and market two new drugs for type II diabetes – the other is dapagliflozin.
Type II diabetes, which is linked to obesity, is associated with long-term complications that affect almost every part of the body.
This week a study by researchers in Spain and Sweden, funded by AstraZeneca and published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, revealed that UK diabetes rates have risen dramatically and are growing at a faster rate than in the US.
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