Name the drug and tell me a bit about it

[XT]

Was watching a news program a week or so ago and they were talking about some new wonder drug being tested in Europe. Unfortunately I didn’t catch the name of it. On the surface, the drug seems to be what is truly meant by ‘wonder drug’ (they used that term several times in fact). The drug not only lowers blood pressure and the bad kind of cholesterol, but it also lowers a diabetics resistance to insulin (this is the primary use for the drug, from what I could gather) AND helps with significant weight loss.

Can anyone tell me what the drug is called, and maybe some details about it and how the testing in Europe is going? I presume that, regardless of the testing there, the US would have to test it independently, so it would be years at the least before it’s available here, but my wife is a diabetic so I’m interested in any information about it.

-XT

[Pray_for_peace]

The drug that you heard about may be Victoza (also referred to by its generic name, liraglutide). Web MD here. The manufacturer, Novo Nordisk, indicates that Victoza has been approved in Europe.

Victoza® is a human glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analogue developed for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. Victoza® lowers blood glucose by stimulating the release of insulin when blood sugar levels are high and also by slowing gastric emptying. Victoza® also reduces body weight and body fat mass through mechanisms involving reduced hunger and lowered energy intake.

The European Commission granted marketing authorisation for Victoza® on 30 June 2009 for all 27 European Union member states and it is already on the market in Germany, the UK and Denmark.

There was a setback in achieving FDA approval for Victoza in the US, but the manufacturer expects that it will ultimately be approved in the US.

Here’s an article that mentions several other new diabetes drugs, including taspoglutide (in development by Roche) and Onglyza (recently approved by FDA for use in US).

[XT]

Thank you very much for the reply and info. Thought this one was going to go unanswered.

-XT

[Hirka_T_Bawa]

Just for the record, this is not the first drug of its class. Exenatide (Byetta) has been out for awhile, and is the first in the class of incretin mimetics.

I don’t know anything about liraglutide to comment on it, but if it was referred to as a “wonder drug”, I wonder why they didn’t mention exenatide.

[Pray_for_peace]

@Hirka_T_Bawa

Just for the record, this is not the first drug of its class. Exenatide (Byetta) has been out for awhile, and is the first in the class of incretin mimetics.

I don’t know anything about liraglutide to comment on it, but if it was referred to as a “wonder drug”, I wonder why they didn’t mention exenatide.

Yes, you are right about Byetta being first. I didn’t see the news program, so I don’t know how the drug at issue was described. The Web MD article linked above is “Victoza for Diabetes: Better than Byetta? New Diabetes Drug Victoza Beats Byetta in Study.” Of course, as with any drug, YMMV.