Diabetes drug lixisenatide shows good results while taspoglutide is dropped

Recent trials on two diabetes treatments have shown mixed results. Lixisenatide, developed by healthcare company Sanofi-Aventis, performed well in hitting a primary goal in a late stage study, while pharma giant Roche announced they were dropping the drug taspoglutide after disappointing phase III results.
Lixisenatide achieved its primary endpoint of non-inferiority in glucose reduction compared with exenatide (also known as Byetta ), which is manufactured by Eli Lilly . GetGoal-X examined 639 patients with type 2 diabetes, comparing lixisenatide, a once daily glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist against twice-daily exenatide as an add-on therapy for patients whose condition is inadequately controlled by metformin .
Pierre Chancel, head of diabetes research at Sanofi, commented “GetGoal-X, the first head-to-head study comparing lixisenatide with another GLP-1, demonstrates the efficacy of lixisenatide once-daily in reducing HbA1c in people with type 2 diabetes and also shows a better hypoglycemia profile.”
On the other hand, Roche has dropped its late stage diabetes drug taspoglutide, and will return the rights to the GLP-1 analogue drug to biotech company Ipsen . Clinical trials of taspoglutide were halted last September because of high instances of adverse side effects, such as hypersensitivity and nausea . Ipsen can now take ownership of the full data from the drug tests.