Novo Nordisk launches diabetes combination
pharmafile | June 8, 2015 | News story | Sales and Marketing | Novo Nordisk, Xutolphy, ada, diabetes
Diabetes specialist firm Novo Nordisk has launched a new treatment in the UK which combines two of the Danish firm’s biggest sellers in one pen.
Xultophy is now available for the treatment of adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus, for use in combination with oral glucose-lowering treatments if they do not provide adequate blood sugar control.
Xultophy (insulin degludec/liraglutide) combines the long acting basal insulin Tresiba (insulin degludec) with the GLP-1 receptor agonist Victoza (liraglutide) in one pen.
Research suggests that in the UK, nearly three quarters of people with type 2 diabetes on basal insulin regimens fail to reach the recommended blood sugar target and are therefore at a greater risk of complications.
Novo Nordisk has published data at this year’s American Diabetes Association (ADA) conference in Boston which found that people treated with Xutolphy significantly reduced their blood sugar, lost weight, and had a lower rate of occurrences of dangerously low blood sugar (hypoglycaemia) compared with patients treated with insulin glargine.
The Phase IIIb trial compared the efficacy and safety of Xultophy to treatment with increasing doses of insulin glargine, both added on to metformin, in patients with uncontrolled type 2 diabetes.
After 26 weeks of treatment, patients who were treated with Xultophy achieved a statistically significant mean reduction in blood sugar, a lower rate of hypoglycaemia’s (2.23 episodes per patient per year compared with 5.05 in the insulin glargine group) greater weight loss (3.2 kilograms, or 7.1 pounds more than the insulin glargine group), and needed fewer units of insulin to control their blood sugar.
Professor Steve Bain, professor of medicine and diabetes at Swansea University and clinical lead for the diabetes research network, Wales, comments: “The availability of Xultophy is a positive step forward, providing a new treatment option for the many people in the UK with type 2 diabetes who struggle to control their blood sugar. This has the potential to reduce complications and help ease the significant cost burden on the NHS.”
Lilian Anekwe
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