Revolution in diabetes treatment

BY NIELS BJØRN-HANSEN

DIABETES AND OBESITY: Pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk has great expectations of lira-glutide, a drug with the potential to revolutionise the treatment of type 2 diabetes and severe obesity

“Liraglutide has had such a profound effect on the treatment of type 2 diabetes and severe obesity that compared with other drugs, it has the potential to revolutionise the treatment of type 2 diabetes and perhaps also the treatment of severe obesity,” says research director Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen of Novo Nordisk.

In the second quarter of 2008, the pharmaceutical company will send a registration application to the authorities, initially regarding the drug’s effect on type 2 diabetes.

“INTELLIGENT” PRODUCT

The diabetes drug has been through a series of three mandatory clinical tests. In phase I, the drug was tested in a few people, but gave a pointer. In phase II, more people participated, and in phase III, liraglutide was tested in several thousand people for a year, with very encouraging results. The beneficial effects continue after a year’s treatment.

“Liraglutide is more effective against type 2 diabetes than the three common diabetes drug classes: sulfonylurea, glitazone and basic insulin,” says Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen. “It triggers the body’s natural insulin and at the same time has the advantage that the blood sugar level does not become too low. That is difficult to control with the conventional drugs. Liraglutide is an “intelligent” product that helps the body in a natural way. Although it has a great potential in future treatment, there is however still a need for even more research into new drugs for type 2 diabetes,” emphasises the research director.

EFFECTIVE AGAINST OBESITY

Liraglutide also has another effect, explains Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen. This was discovered when volunteers in an obesity trial took the drug – they lost up to 7 kilos of weight.

“So we are now starting to obtain additional documentation, where liraglutide is being tested in several thousand people with severe obesity. The preliminary results give us reason to hope that liraglutide also has potential to become a new and important treatment opportunity for severe obesity.”

“It costs billions of kroner to develop a drug like liraglutide,” continues Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen. “To develop and document the effect of a drug in itself costs half a billion kroner annually. It is important during development to demonstrate that the drug does not have any unwanted effects. So it is thoroughly tested.”

Novo Nordisk is a global pharmaceutical company headquartered in Denmark. It is a world leader in the insulin market with a 53% share. The company employs 26,000 people, of whom 49% are located in Denmark, while the rest are in the USA, Europe and Japan. Novo Nordisk has just published its annual accounts which showed profits of DKK 8.5 billion – an increase of 32% on the previous year.

http://www.novonordisk.com