Healthcare Industry News:  growth hormone 

Biopharmaceuticals Endocrinology FDA

 News Release - April 2, 2009

Update on FDA Advisory Committee Meeting on Liraglutide for the Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes

SILVER SPRING, Md., April 2 (Healthcare Sales & Marketing Network) -- Novo Nordisk today announced that the Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee of the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has finalized its discussions of questions related to liraglutide, a once-daily human GLP-1 analogue.

The Advisory Committee voted on questions related to the risk profile of liraglutide.

  • A majority of Advisory Committee members supported that appropriate evidence of cardiovascular safety had been provided to rule out excess cardiovascular risk of liraglutide relative to comparators.
  • While a majority of Advisory Committee members did not find that Novo Nordisk based on the available data had ruled out that the finding of C-cell tumours in rodents was not relevant to humans, the Advisory Committee was split on the FDA question related to whether the available data on C-cell tumours permitted approvability.
  • Finally, the Advisory Committee unanimously supported approvability of liraglutide with regard to risk of papillary thyroid cancer.

"We remain convinced that liraglutide has a positive benefit/risk profile and represents an important advance for people with type 2 diabetes. We will work closely with the FDA as it completes its review of our application to address the concerns expressed by members of the Advisory Committee," said Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen, executive vice president and chief science officer of Novo Nordisk.

The Advisory Committee reviewed data from 40 clinical studies involving more than 6,800 people with type 2 diabetes of which more than 4,600 were treated with liraglutide.

The timing of US launch of liraglutide will be determined after completion of the FDA's review of the application.

The outcome of the FDA Advisory Committee is not expected to significantly impact Novo Nordisk's expectations for the company's financial results for 2009, which were provided on January 29 in connection with the release of the financial results for 2008. Novo Nordisk will update the expectations for the company's financial results for 2009 on April 30 2009 in connection with the release of the financial results for the first quarter of 2009.

FDA advisory committees are panels of independent experts who advise the FDA as they consider regulatory decisions. The FDA is not bound by the committee's recommendation, but it takes its advice into consideration when reviewing new drug applications.

Conference call

On April 3 at 8am CET, corresponding to 2am EDT, a conference call for investors will be held. Investors will be able to listen in via a link on the investor section of novonordisk.com.

About liraglutide

Liraglutide is the first once-daily human Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 (GLP-1) analogue developed for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. Liraglutide works by stimulating the release of insulin only when glucose levels become too high and by inhibiting appetite. On May 23 2008, Novo Nordisk submitted a New Drug Application to the Food and Drug Administration in the US as well as a marketing authorisation application to the European Medicines Agency in Europe, for the approval of liraglutide for the treatment of people with type 2 diabetes. A New Drug Application was also submitted for approval in Japan on July 15 2008.

Novo Nordisk is a healthcare company and a world leader in diabetes care. In addition, Novo Nordisk has a leading position within areas such as haemostasis management, growth hormone therapy and hormone replacement therapy. Novo Nordisk manufactures and markets pharmaceutical products and services that make a significant difference to patients, the medical profession and society. With headquarters in Denmark, Novo Nordisk employs more than 27,000 employees in 81 countries, and markets its products in 179 countries. Novo Nordisk's B shares are listed on the stock exchanges in Copenhagen and London. Its ADRs are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol 'NVO'. For more information, visit novonordisk.com.


Source: Novo Nordisk

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