The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a new use for Amylin and Eli Lilly’s type 2 diabetes drug, Byetta (exenatide) injection.  Byetta is now approved as an add-on therapy to insulin glargine (Lantus), with or without metformin and/or a thiazolidinedione (TZD), for adults with type 2 diabetes who are not achieving adequate glycemic control on insulin glargine alone. The FDA approved Byetta as an add-on therapy to Lantus following a clinical trial where patients using Byetta with insulin glargine achieved...

Novo Nordisk’s ultra-long-acting insulin degludec, an investigational basal insulin being developed, showed significant blood sugar reductions in patients with type 2 diabetes even when doses were given once-daily up to 40 hours apart, according to data presented today at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Lisbon.    The study showed that HbA1c levels at 26-weeks were reduced by 1.28 percentage points to 7.2% with insulin degludec, comparable to Sanofi’s Lantus (insulin glargine). Additionally,...

Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Eli Lilly and Alkermes announced new analyses from the DURATION-3 and DURATION-4 trials demonstrating patients treated with the investigational medication Bydureon (exenatide extended-release for injectable suspension) experienced significant improvements in select cardiovascular risk factors, in comparison to patients who received commonly prescribed diabetes treatments. The analyses showed that patients receiving Bydureon for the treatment of type 2 diabetes experienced improvements in composite endpoints...

Novo Nordisk presented clinical pharmacology data for insulin degludec, an ultra-long-acting basal insulin currently under clinical investigation. The data demonstrate up to four times lower day-to-day variability in the total metabolic effect compared to insulin glargine (Lantus) in people with type 1 diabetes.  The data were presented at the 46th Scientific Sessions of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD). Additionally, Novo Nordisk presented phase 2 data which demonstrate insulin degludec’s potential...

Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Eli Lilly and Company announced results from a study comparing the effect of long-term treatment with either Byetta (exenatide) injection or Lantus(R) (insulin glargine) on overall beta-cell function. Three years of Byetta therapy improved indices of beta-cell function assessed four weeks after discontinuing therapy. These findings were presented at the 70th Annual Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association in Orlando, Fla. After three years of treatment, both therapies reduced...

You will probably never be more challenged in your diabetes management than when you are a college student (well, maybe parenthood is the most challenging but I haven’t crossed that bridge yet so I am going with what I know). Junior high and high school can be hard with changing hormones, but you still have the balance of a daily consistent schedule and your family’s help. College is like nothing you have ever experienced in your diabetes management. It is difficult and exasperating to balance ideal diabetes management with a...

Recently published studies suggested that insulin glargine (a synthetic insulin preparation marketed under the trade name Lantus), may be associated with a higher risk of certain cancers than other insulins or oral glucose lowering medications. However, these studies were unable to control for important factors such as obesity that may have driven the association. Another large randomized trial designed to examine another aspect of diabetes care, which used insulin glargine, showed no increase in the frequency of cancer with glargine. To...

Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk says Levemir, one of its insulin analogue products, does not have a higher risk of cancer when compared to human insulin, according to a recent article from Reuters Health. The findings of a study involving 9,000 patients were presented at a European Association for the Study of Diabetes in Vienna. With the findings, Novo seeks to distance itself even further from Sanofi-Aventis’s insulin analogue Lantus, which some recent studies suggest may cause cancer. Unlike insulin produced by the body, Levemir...