COPENHAGEN--The world's largest insulin maker Novo Nordisk A/S
(NOVO-B.KO) said late Sunday fresh study results show that its
diabetes 2-treating drug Victoza more efficiently lowers blood
sugar levels and helps patients lose weight than key competitors'
drugs.
According to the "real world" study, which is based on the
treatment of 1,114 British diabetes patients, the use of Victoza
resulted in a greater reduction in average blood sugar levels than
U.S. peer Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s (AMLN) diabetes drug Byetta
or dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitors, a group of oral antidiabetes
drugs.
The study compared the levels of glycoslated haemoglobin
molecules, or HbA1c, in the blood of diabetes patients in primary
care practices in the U.K. HbA1c, a molecule resulting from the
combination of a red blood cell with sugar, is used as a
measurement of the average level of blood sugar over time, and
thereby also of the ability of diabetes drugs to deliver stable
blood sugar level control.
The study furthermore showed that patients experienced greater
weight loss when treated with Victoza than the other drugs.
In most cases diabetes, and especially diabetes 2, is connected
with overweight. Weight loss has proven a fortunate side-effect of
treatment with some diabetes drugs, even to an extent that they are
being tested as remedy against general obesity.
Victoza treatment led to an average weight loss of 3.9
kilograms, while the comparative weight loss was 2.9 kilograms for
Byetta and 0.8 kilogram for DPP-4 inhibitors, Novo Nordisk
said.
Victoza, a long-acting so-called human glucagon peptide-1
analogue, or GLP-1, has been Novo Nordisk's key growth driver in
the past couple of years and reached blockbuster status in 2011
with sales totalling $1.1 billion.
It is currently undergoing phase III studies as treatment for
obesity, and could potentially launch in this capacity in 2014 or
2015.
Write to Flemming Emil Hansen at
flemming.hansen@dowjones.com