Amylin: EU Approves Diabetes Treatment Byetta With Basal Insulin

Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. (AMLN) and Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY) said the European Commission approved its type 2 diabetes treatment Byetta as an add-on therapy to basal insulin.

The drug makers said Byetta with titrated basal insulin improves glycemic control after meals, and common side effects include nausea, diarrhea, dizziness and headache.

Lilly and Amylin in November severed their nine-year-old partnership that was supposed to furnish a blockbuster treatment for diabetes but was instead plagued by disappointing sales, regulatory troubles and company disputes, The Wall Street Journal reported. Amylin agreed to pay $250 million to Lilly upfront and as much as $1.2 billion more from sales of a molecule called exenatide that lowers the blood sugar of diabetics. That molecule is in the drug Byetta.

Amylin on Friday said it will assume responsibility for exenatide-product commercialization outside of the U.S. on a market-by-market basis by the end of 2013. During the transition period, Amylin will work with Lilly on plans for markets outside the U.S.

Amylin and Lilly shares closed Thursday at $15.41 and $39.81, respectively. Both were inactive premarket.

 
   -By Melodie Warner, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2283; [e-mail]