Glaxo launches new diabetes drug in US

GlaxoSmithKline PLC, the enormous international pharmaceutical corporatio, is to introduce a new combination diabetes drug, called Avandaryl. The drug, which has recently been granted approval by U.S. regulators, will be released in the United States. Avandaryl is a combination of the popular Avandia diabetes medicine with another, older treatment called sulphonylureas.
The release of Avandaryl has been delayed for approximately one year following complications with the powerful American regulatory board the FDA (Food and Drug Administration.) Approval for the drug was delayed after manufacturing problems at the Cidra plant, Puerto Rico.
Avandaryl is the second drug from Glaxo that combines two different treatments. The first, Avandamet, is a combination of Avandia and Metformin, both popular diabetes drugs in their own right. The aim of the new product is to secure Glaxo’s place at the top of the diabetes market, particularly as diabetes looks like expanding much further in the future.
The combination drug is aimed at type 2 diabetics, and is expected to go on sale later this year. In America alone, type 2 is an enormous and growing problem.