Novo's New Insulin Reduces Risk of Low Blood Sugar, Study Shows

By Denise Roland 

Novo Nordisk A/S said its new insulin Tresiba carries about the same risk of serious heart problems as Sanofi SA's Lantus but offers significantly lower risk of dangerously low blood sugar in people with Type-2 diabetes.

Denmark-based Novo Nordisk said its trial of more than 7,500 patients found that those on Tresiba were 27% less likely to suffer an episode of severe hypoglycemia, a dangerous condition that occurs when insulin removes too much sugar from the blood, than those on Lantus.

It added that for episodes of severe hypoglycemia during sleep, Tresiba reduced the risk by 54% compared with Lantus. Patients on Tresiba and Lantus were at equal risk of having serious heart problems such as heart attack and stroke.

A Sanofi spokesman said the company hadn't yet had a chance to analyze the trial results.

The results could provide a much-needed boost to a drug that has so far proved a disappointment. It could turn around Novo Nordisk's frustrated efforts to have Tresiba gain significant market share from Lantus, an older insulin that dominates the U.S. insulin market.

When Novo Nordisk launched Tresiba in January, it hoped the added convenience -- unlike older insulins, it doesn't need to be taken at the same time daily -- would justify its high price tag and help it win favor among doctors.

Instead, the company has been forced to offer deeper-than-expected discounts to win favorable coverage by the pharmacy-benefit managers that negotiate drug prices on behalf of health insurers and employers. Even with that coverage, Tresiba has struggled to win market share from Lantus. As of September, Tresiba had a 3% share of the U.S. market for long-acting insulin, compared with Lantus's 66%, according to health-care data company IMS.

But the result of the trial could help win favor from doctors. Peter Verdult, an analyst at Citi, previously said any result that showed a benefit of around 30% could shift prescribing habits in favor of Tresiba.

Still, any boost from the result of the trial may prove modest.

Pharmacy-benefit managers are eager to contain the ballooning cost of diabetes after years of price increases by insulin makers including Novo Nordisk. What's more, there is rising public anger about the high cost of insulin.

"The issue has always been affordability," said Irl Hirsch, a diabetes doctor at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle. He added that the lower risk of hypoglycemia with Tresiba had already been suggested in earlier, smaller trials.

Those pressures have already forced Novo Nordisk to slash its long-term growth target, saying that it must lower prices for a "significantly more challenging" U.S. market.

Write to Denise Roland at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 29, 2016 19:37 ET (00:37 GMT)

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