Jason Gaglia, a diabetes expert at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston. Gaglia in Boston said price would be critical in determining its uptake both among U.N) Januvia will report later in 2018. “Once an oral is available I think there will be significant interest in it.Chief Science Officer Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen said Novo would pay close attention to such factors as it tries to reach the three-quarters of diabetics who are not yet on injections. What’s more, the drug must be in close contact with the stomach wall, which means patients cannot eat for 30 minutes after taking it and the pill can also cause nausea, raising questions about its practicality.That represents a life-line for Novo as it tries to differentiate itself in diabetes at a time when its smaller biopharma division is also struggling, prompting last month’s abortive attempt to buy Belgian biotech Ablynx (ABLX.BR). “The highest limit of where we could consider taking the pricing would be injectable GLP-1 and the lowest level would be somewhere in between current oral drugs and injectable GLP-1,” Thomsen said.. Still, the devil will be in the details of the 10 Phase III trials, the first of which will deliver results this quarter.Novo’s oral semaglutide medicine is important for ensuring the group’s long-term growth - a critical mission after 2017 results last week revealed mounting price pressure in a crowded market targeting the world’s 450 million diabetics.”

That may be sour grapes by Novo’s arch-rival, whose own work on developing an oral GLP-1 is only at the preclinical stage. But the needle is still a barrier.O), which has a product in early-stage trials.The once-daily pill belongs to a blockbuster class of treatments known as GLP-1s that stimulate insulin production, the first of which were derived from the venomous bite of North America’s Gila monster lizard.If Novo gets over the pricing hurdle, Bailey and Gaglia believe the new pill is set to reshuffle treatment regimens, with oral semaglutide being used as a second or third treatment option after cheap, generic metformin.Eli Lilly research chief Jan Lundberg told analysts last week: “It’s really a sub-optimal oral agent.

LATE BREAKFASTBut oral semaglutide is no simple tablet.Denmark’s Novo Nordisk wants to prove it wholesale ceramic alkali pump for sale can transform the diabetes market with a pill.SHUFFLING TREATMENTSDoctors hope oral semaglutide will provide a new weapon to tackle diabetes earlier with a highly effective therapy.Today, GLP-1s are embraced as a highly effective diabetes therapy and semaglutide, which was approved as a once-weekly injection in December, has out-gunned rivals in efficacy. Rivals, especially Eli Lilly (LLY.Getting this far with oral GLP is already a notable achievement, especially after an earlier oral insulin project was abandoned as uneconomic in 2016. But Clifford Bailey, professor of clinical science at Britain’s Aston University and Dr.Novo’s nearest rival in developing an oral GLP-1 is Israel’s Oramed (ORMP. Others are more cautious but investors overall are betting oral and injectable semaglutide combined will supply around two-thirds of Novo’s revenue growth over the next five years, according to

Thomson Reuters consensus data. So far, all have been injections. “There is resistance in some patients to move to an injectable medication,” said Dr. “It will certainly be welcomed by those patients who prefer to go without their breakfast for half an hour rather than have an injection,” said Bailey. insurers and cost-conscious European healthcare systems. Representational Image. (Photo: Pixabay) LONDON: After nearly a century building a company worth $125 billion based on injectable drugs, Denmark’s Novo Nordisk (NOVOb. The size of the benefit will feed into Novo’s final pricing decision.Most analysts expect oral semaglutide to beat these rivals in controlling both blood sugar and weight. Key trials against Lilly and Boehringer Ingelheim’s pill Jardiance and Merck & Co’s (MRK.But making patients wait half an hour for breakfast could affect adherence and is a concern for investors - as is the question of what Novo will charge for a drug that may perform as well as a pricey injection but looks like rival pills that cost half as much. “If we get the balance between the drug’s profile and the drug’s price and market access right then we can do phenomenally well,” he told Reuters.

This is a big, complex molecule, known as a peptide, which would normally be destroyed by stomach acid and it requires protection with a special compound to boost absorption. While diabetics with advanced disease need daily insulin shots, those at a less serious stage start on simple tablets, with GLP-1s added as a potent new option since 2005.CO) - the world’s biggest insulin maker - wants to prove this year it can transform the diabetes market with a pill.S.N), are watching Novo’s final-stage oral semaglutide trials closely, ahead of the drug’s potential 2020 launch.”If the data stack up from 10 pivotal Phase III studies reporting results in 2018, the new drug could grab more than $5 billion in annual sales, Deutsche Bank analysts believe