The diabetes drug Januvia, created by Merck and Co, has been shown to substantially improve blood sugar levels over two years of treatment in combination with the older drug metformin. Januvia was found to be well tolerated on the whole.
Januvia, which is also known as sitaglipti, is a blockbuster drug for the company, and occupies a unique position in the market as the only DPP-4 inhibitor. Annual sales of the drug now exceed $1.6 billion.
Further studies, which were presented at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes annual conference in Romen, demonstrated that the drug was safe and effective. The news of long term blood sugar level improvement is particularly important for people with type 2 diabetes .
Diabetes expert Bernard Charbonnel of University Hospital in Naples, France, was reported in the news as commenting: “This is important for patients and physicians because type 2 diabetes is characterized by a progressive deterioration in beta cell function over time, resulting in the disease worsening. This progression of disease leads to decreased effectiveness of all known treatments over time, with patients often requiring multiple therapies in order to achieve their glycaemic goals.”
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