Nice recommends three drugs to treat diabetes

pharmafile | May 25, 2016 | News story | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing |  AstraZeneca, BMS, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, Janssen, NICE, diabetes 

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) has backed three drugs for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.

The drugs include, Janssen’s Invokana (canagliflozin), Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) and AstraZeneca’s (LSE: AZN) Forxiga (dapagliflozin) and Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly’s (NYSE: LLY) Jardiance (empagliflozin).

The three drugs can all be used on their own if a person can’t use metformin or other specific drugs, and diet and exercise alone isn’t controlling their blood glucose levels.

Around 3 million people in the UK have Type II diabetes. An estimated 31,000 people may be eligible for the three recommended treatments.

The cost of a course of treatment over one year with each drug is around £475.

Professor Carole Longson, director of the Nice Centre for Health Technology Evaluation, said: “Type II diabetes is long-term condition that has a serious impact on people who live with it, and the treatments given should be tailored for the individual.

“For many people whose blood glucose levels aren’t controlled by diet and exercise alone, metformin is the first drug treatment that they’ll be offered. But some people may experience nausea and diarrhoea, and they may not be able to take it if they have kidney damage. For people who can’t take a sulfonylurea or pioglitazone, then the three drugs recommended in this guidance can be considered.  This is as an alternative to the separate group of drugs called dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors.”

Anjali Shukla