The FDA approved semaglutide (Ozempic) from Novo Nordisk on 12/5/17, after the Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee recommended the drug in a 16-0 vote in mid-October. Semaglutide is a once-weekly glucagon-like peptide (GLP)-1 agonist for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. The drug is entering a crowded field and will compete with exenatide (Byetta/Bydureon), lixisenatide (Lyxumia), albiglutide (Tanzeum), dulaglutide (Trulicity) and Novo's own liraglutide (Victoza, Saxenda). While a weekly dosing schedule is an attractive benefit for semaglutide, the real game changer will be the availability of the drug as the first oral GLP-1 in 2-3 years. A 31-week, 632 patient, Phase III dose ranging trial compared oral semaglutide to weekly injections of the drug. HbA1c was lowered 0.9 to 1.9% with the oral doses compard to a 1.9% decrease with the injection. The 40mg oral dose had a similar decrease in HbA1c and weight compared to the injection. Adverse reactions were also similar.
You can monitor the pharmaceutical pipeline in order to plan for changes with the Prescribe Right Pharmaceutical Pipeline Tracker. With drugs costs representing 10% of the total health care costs, planning for increases in drug expenditures has become an important aspect of managing these costs. Branded drugs, especially speciality medications represent over 70% of drug costs, despite being only 20% of utilization. This makes it necessary to monitor the pharmaceutical pipeline in order to plan for changes. (The full editorial is available in the December Issue of Hospital Pharmacy)
Track investigational drugs and find out their current status in the Prescribe Right Pharmaceutical Pipeline Tracker Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a common disease in the United States with almost 10% of people older than 65 suffering from the disease. A few drugs provide some improvement in mental function in mild-to-moderate disease, but no treatments are available to prevent the development of AD. Two new classes of drugs being investigated for the treatment or prevention of AD include drugs to decrease beta amyloid accumulation and Tau protein aggregation inhibitors. After disappointing results for treatment of AD, both classes are being tested in prevention trials. (The full article is available in the December issue of Hospital Pharmacy)
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