Bristol-myers Gets Eu Approval For Diabetes Drug
That means Onglyza will compete with Merck & Co.s blockbuster diabetes drug Januvia both in the EU and in the United States, where the Bristol Myers drug was approved on July 31.
Onglyza is the first diabetes drug to be launched in Europe by a partnership of New York-based Bristol-Myers and British drugmaker AstraZeneca PLC to develop drugs for type 2 diabetes. It was approved for use with three other standard diabetes drugs, based on six late-stage studies including more than 4,100 patients.
Onglyza and Januvia both are in a newer class of diabetes medicines called DPP-4 inhibitors. They work by increasing [...]
Boehringer Sees Uphill Battle With Merck, Astra In Diabetes
Boehringers trump card could be that unlike Mercks Januvia and Bristol-Myers and AstraZenecas Onglyza, doctors wont have to adjust the dose of its pill linagliptin for patients with impaired kidney function, said Klaus Dugi, Boehringers head of medical affairs. That means doctors wont have to do extra tests for patients with kidney problems, he said.
“The big challenge will be that by the time linagliptin comes to the market, prescribers will have four to five years of experience with Januvia,” Dugi said in an Oct. 2 interview [...]
Doctors Prescribe Caveat With Sanofi Insulins Ties to Cancer
A review of studies presented by half-a-dozen doctors, involving thousands of patients, wasnt able to prove the safety of Sanofi-Aventis SAs long-acting insulin Lantus, the investigators said. The problem may be that patients dont fully respond to the insulin they already have, said Edwin Gale, professor of diabetes at the University of Bristol in the U.K.
European scientists startled medical professionals in June when they reported that Lantus, the worlds biggest-selling insulin, may increase the risk of cancer. More research is needed, according to a panel of [...]
Treating Mild Diabetes During Pregnancy Beneficial
In a study of 950 women, those with mild gestational diabetes who were treated had fewer overly large babies, fewer cesarean sections and fewer pregnancy complications, compared to women who didnt have their diabetes treated.
“There is every reason to fully treat women with even the mildest (gestational diabetes) based on our results,” said the studys leader, Dr. Mark Landon of Ohio State University Medical Center in Columbus.
Gestational diabetes begins during pregnancy and usually goes away after childbirth. It affects as many as one in seven pregnant women, depending on the population. The mothers elevated blood sugar can cause the fetus [...]
Cancer Alert Asked as Sanofi, Novo Diabetes Drugs Put to Test
European scientists startled medical professionals and patients in June when they reported in the Diabetologia medical journal that Sanofi-Aventis SAs Lantus, the worlds biggest-selling insulin, may increase the risk of cancer. U.S. regulators delayed a decision on Novo Nordisk A/Ss liraglutide drug until the fourth quarter after cases of thyroid cancer emerged in animal tests.
The cancer link casts a spotlight on glucose-lowering therapies that have become standard care for people who cant control their blood sugar levels with healthy eating or exercise, said Edwin Gale, a [...]
Astrazeneca Denied Drugs Diabetes Link Years After Alarm
Nancy White, the saleswoman, and a colleague met with an unidentified doctor in July 2006 who reported “getting a lot of flak” from patients about Seroquels diabetes links, according to a note unsealed as part of a lawsuit. AstraZeneca wrote in November 2002 to Japanese doctors that it received a dozen reports of diabetes-related cases tied to Seroquel “where causality with the drug could not be ruled out.”
White said in the 2006 note that she told the physician that “there has been no causative effect” found [...]
Mercks Januvia, Paired With Insulin, Improves Sugar Control
The findings are being presented today at the meeting of the American Diabetes Association in New Orleans. Amid a rise in obesity, 23.6 million people in the U.S. have diabetes, with about 90 percent suffering from the type-2 version, for which Januvia is approved as a treatment.
Growth of Mercks diabetes franchise helped offset slumping revenue of other products in 2008, the company said in a regulatory filing in February. The drugmaker, based in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, is seeking approval from U.S. regulators to market Januvia, [...]
Diabetes Cases In Children to Double By 2020, Researchers Say
The number children under 15 with Type 1 diabetes will rise to about 160,000 across Europe in 2020 from 94,000 in 2005, according to a study in the U.K. journal The Lancet. Lead researcher Chris Patterson from the Queens University in Belfast expects the cases in children younger than 5 to double.
The gain is so rapid that it cant be explained by genetic links alone, the researchers said. Changes in lifestyle seen in nations with rising wealth, such as more births by caesarian section, greater height [...]
Diabetes More Likely to Strike The Young In Asia
Research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association on Wednesday said the disease has turned into a global problem, with the number of victims expected to grow from 240 million in 2007 to 380 million in 2025.
More than 60 percent of those will be in Asia, the worlds fastest growing region, with low- and middle-income countries hardest hit.
India will see its numbers grow from 40 million to nearly 70 million; China 39 million to 59 million; and Bangladesh 3.8 million to 7.4 million, the authors wrote, citing figures from the International Diabetes Federation. Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam [...]
Study: Diabetes Drug Lowers Amputation Risk
About half of the patients were given fenofibrate, a drug available generically and sold as Antara, Fenoglide, Lipofen and others. The other half got fake pills. After five years, 115 patients had at least one lower limb amputation because of diabetes.
Diabetes can damage nerves and blood vessels. In severe cases, this leads to amputation. About one diabetes patient in 10 loses part of a leg.
The study, first published in 2005, aimed to see if fenofibrate prevented heart disease. It didnt.
But in this new analysis, experts found patients on fenofibrate had a 36 percent lower risk of a first amputation than [...]