Novo Nordisk’s oral diabetes drug safe and effective

pharmafile | June 12, 2019 | News story | Research and Development |  GLP-1, Novo Nordisk, diabetes, pharma, samgalutide 

Novo Nordisk’s oral diabetes drug semaglutide is safe for those at high risk of cardiovascular complications, according to the results of a Phase 3a trial.

The human glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) drug semgalutide is currently available as a once weekly injection for patients with type 2 diabetes.

The injectable version has been shown to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events, even among those at high risk.

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The new Phase 3a trial found that the oral version of the drug was safe and superior to MSD’s sitagliptin in helping patients achieve their HbA1c targets.

The oral version of semgalutide has a safety profile consistent with the GPL-1 class of drugs as a whole.

“This is the first orally-available GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide-1) receptor agonist and that’s a pretty big deal,” said Dr Mansoor Husain, director of the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute who led the study. “Just being able to take a pill every day makes it much more accessible.”  

The results of the trial were published in the journal The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.

Louis Goss

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