Victoza claims head-to-head victory over Januvia
pharmafile | April 29, 2010 | News story | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing | Novo, Novo Nordisk, Victoza
Novo Nordisk says its diabetes treatment showed “significant” benefits over Merck’s rival Januvia in a head-to-head trial.
Results published in The Lancet show the injectable Victoza produced “significant” reductions in blood glucose levels when compared to oral treatment Januvia.
Dr Richard Pratley, of the Diabetes and Metabolism Translational Medicine Unit, University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, said: “These data clearly show that Victoza at both doses was more effective than Januvia at achieving blood sugar control in people with type II diabetes with the benefit of weight loss.”
The multi-centre, open-label, 26-week trial consisted of over 600 patients with type II diabetes across Europe and North America. Both were trialled in conjunction with the standard oral treatment Metformin.
Data from the trial showed that nearly twice as many patients on Victoza reached the American Diabetes Association (ADA) target of blood glucose levels of 7% or less when compared to Januvia.
It also met its secondary endpoints of reducing statistically significant weight loss in patients and scored well in the Diabetes Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire.
Novo will want to use these results to show that while oral treatment may be preferable for administration, its injectable treatment can bring greater patient benefits in terms of significant glucose level and body weight reductions.
Victoza is an injectable form of the glucose-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) agonist and received US approval from the FDA in January.
But the regulator set several post-marketing requirements after an FDA advisory panel raised doubts about adverse events.
The drug is used in patients struggling to control their blood glucose levels on existing oral treatments, and could help them delay the need for insulin injections.
It is indicated to be used after oral treatments metformin or sulphonylurea, and can be used alone or in combination with one of the established diabetes drugs if they fail to control blood glucose on their own.
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