Januvia launched in UK
pharmafile | April 25, 2007 | News story | Sales and Marketing |Â Â Januvia, diabetesÂ
Merck Sharp & Dohme has launched its first-in-class diabetes treatment Januvia in the UK. Januvia has been approved as an add-on to current oral treatments for type II diabetes such as the glitazones, with which it has comparable efficacy but lower side-effects rates.
It will be priced at £33.26 for 28 pills, placing it at a premium to glitazones like Takeda's Actos (pioglitazone), which costs £24.14 for the same sized pack.
Januvia is the first DPP-4 inhibitor to be approved in Europe and it works by increasing levels of incretins – gut hormones found naturally in the body. In trials Januvia (sitagliptin) had a low incidence of hypoglycaemia (where the blood sugar is lowered too far) and low risk of weight gain – side effects seen in current treatments.
The once-daily, oral treatment can be prescribed as an add-on to metformin or a glitazone, when diet and exercise and either therapy alone does not provide adequate glycaemic control. In trials Januvia reduced HbA1c a surrogate marker for blood glucose levels – by up to a further 0.65% when added to metformin or a 0.7% when added to Actos. Anthony Barnett, Professor of Medicine at Birmingham Heartlands & Solihull NHS Trust, said: "Current treatments do not always adequately reduce patients HbA1c levels and many existing diabetes medicines may be associated with side-effects that can inhibit compliance."
Januvia was approved by European regulators earlier this year, having last year gained a US licence. A rival DPP-4 treatment is currently undergoing regulatory review. Novartis' Glavus (vildagliptin) was submitted for approval in Europe last August, but faces a delay in the US, where regulators want an additional study on its safety and efficacy in certain patient groups with renal impairment.
Both drugs are expected to be major successes, with analysts predicting global peak sales in excess of $1.5 billion each.
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