Takeda diabetes drug lowers blood sugar in trials
ju4 wa4i dia4n zo1ng he2 ba4o da4o :\n  LOS ANGELES, June 7 (Reuters) - Takeda Pharmaceutical Co\nLtd's <4502.T> experimental diabetes drug alogliptin\nsignificantly lowers blood sugar alone and in combination with\nother common therapies, according to research presented on\nSaturday.\nData from five pivotal clinical trials of the drug, part of\na new class known as DPP-4 inhibitors, was unveiled at a\nmeeting in San Francisco of the American Diabetes Association.\n"What's really important about alogliptin is the breadth\nand depth of the studies," said Dr. Robert Spanheimer, vice\npresident, medical scientific affairs at Takeda. "No other\nDPP-4 inhibitor has been studied so broadly."\nDipeptidyl peptidase-4, or DPP-4, inhibitors like Merck and\nCo Inc's <MRK.N> Januvia and alogliptin work to enhance the\nbody's ability to lower elevated levels of blood sugar.\nTakeda said alogliptin, given once daily, demonstrated\nstatistically significant reductions in hemoglobin A1c (a\nmeasure of an individual's average blood sugar over three\nmonths) versus placebo alone and as an add-on therapy with the\nmajor classes of type 2 diabetes medications: metformin,\nthiazolidinediones, insulin and sulfonylureas.\nAbstracts of the trial results were released prior to the\ndiabetes conference.\nSpanheimer said Takeda is evaluating its options for\ncombining alogliptin in a single pill with other oral drugs,\nnoting that the company has already launched a Phase III trial\nof a pill combining alogliptin with Actos.\nJapan's largest drug maker has grown globally on the\nstrength of its diabetes pill Actos, which has annual sales of\nmore than $3 billion but will lose U.S. patent protection in\nActos and rival medicine Avandia from GlaxoSmithKline <GSK.L>\nare "insulin sensitizers," belonging to a class of drugs called\nthiazolidinediones or TZDs, that help lower insulin resistance.\nSpanheimer said there were no surprises as far as side\neffects in the alogliptin trials, with headache and swelling\nbeing some of the most common adverse events.\nThe company expects a decision later this year from the\nU.S. Food and Drug Administration on its application to sell\nthe drug.\n(Reporting by Deena Beasley; Editing by Eric Walsh)\n((deena.beasley@thomsonreuters.com; 1-213-955-6746; Reuters\nMessaging: deena.beasley.reuters.com@reuters.net))\nKeywords: DIABETES TAKEDA/ALOGLIPTIN