NICE recommends Forxiga in Triple Therapy for Diabetes
pharmafile | October 7, 2016 | News story | Medical Communications | AstraZeneca, Forxiga, NHS, NICE, diabetes, type 2 diabetes
The news of NICE’s approval of the Forxiga comes in a busy week for AstraZeneca. They have sold three drugs, had bad news on heart drug Brilinta and so this dose of positive news will be a welcome one for the English-Swedish company.
The triple therapy treatment method means that those patients who are already taking two drugs and are seeing little results can have Forxiga added to their treatment. Forxiga is already part of the treatment process for 83,000 people living in the UK. The decision will allow the drug to be made more widely available to people suffering from type 2 diabetes.
Professor John Wilding, Head of Obesity and Endocrinlogy at the University Hospital Liverpool, stated regarding the news: “For many patients whose blood sugar is no longer adequately controlled with metformin and sulphonylurea, adding another oral therapy such as dapagliflozin or a DPP-4 inhibitor is preferable to starting injectable treatment. In my clinical experience, I have found that dapagliflozin offers a good alternative to DPP-4s, as it can help patients reach their blood glucose targets while also providing a significant secondary benefit of weight loss. Today’s announcement by NICE means that more patients will now have access to this treatment option.”
Though weight control was not the primary endpoint, it did feature as a secondary endpoint in the clinical trials. The trials revealed that there was a significant change in body weight (with weight loss) between those taking a placebo and those taking Forxiga. The weight control results were undoubtedly a factor in the decision to recommend the drug, with 2.9 million adults diagnosed with diabetes (of those 90% had type 2 diabetes) and the rise of type 2 diabetes linked to obesity.
Ben Hargreaves
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