Two Phase III clinical trials involving more than 2000 patients have shown that Novo Nordisk's new anti-diabetes drug candidate liraglutide have a positive effect on blood glucose control, body weight and hypoglycaemia risks. Liraglutide is a once-daily human analogue of the naturally occurring hormone glucagon-Like Peptide-1 (GLP-1), and works by stimulating the release of insulin only when glucose levels become too high. Liraglutide also leads to weight loss instead of weight increase.

In the LEAD® 1 study, liraglutide provided statistically significantly better glucose control than rosiglitazone. Liraglutide treatment led to around 40% of patients reaching the American Diabetes Association goal of HbA1c < 7% at study completion. However, among the patients that had previously been treated with only a single oral antidiabetic drug, liraglutide treatment led to more than 50% of patients reaching this goal.

In the LEAD® 2 study, liraglutide treatment led to an HbA1c improvement that was similar to that observed in the glimepiride-treated group and at the highest dose of liraglutide, more than 40% of patients achieved the HbA1c target of 7%. Among patients previously treated with a single oral antidiabetic drug, close to 65% of the patients on this dose reached the target.

The results of these studies are yet to be published in peer reviewed journals.

Source: Novo Nordisk