Novartis anounced that three medicines have been approved for use in Japan, among them Equa® (vildagliptin), marketed as Galvus® in the European Union, for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.
Equa has been approved in Japan for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, as monotherapy or in combination with a sulfonylurea. As a DPP-4 inhibitor, Equa works by targeting the dysfunction in the pancreatic islets that causes high blood sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes.
An estimated 7 million people in Japan have type 2 diabetes.