Thursday, July 09, 2009

Onglyza - prepare for launch

AstraZeneca Plc and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. are preparing to introduce their new diabetes drug Onglyza to the German market in the third quarter as U.S. regulators continue their review of the medicine.

The U.K. and U.S. drugmakers, which plan to jointly market the product as part of a diabetes partnership they began in January 2007, may offer patients a treatment with fewer side effects than current therapies, said Bristol-Myers’s German chief Han Steutel in a press briefing in Frankfurt late yesterday.

“The products which are currently on the market have side effects” such as weight gain and a lower than normal level of glucose in the blood, said Steutel. Onglyza does not have such side effects, he said. The drug won the backing of a European Medicines Agency panel last month, a recommendation that is typically followed by European Commission approval within about three months.

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