US drug agency approves new type 2 diabetes drug Lixisenatide

The US Food and Drug administration approved Sanofi’s type 2 diabetes drug Adlyxin (generic name: lixisenatide), a once-daily injection which helps improve blood sugar levels in adults.

Various trials were conducted to test the efficacy and safety of the drug. These include 10 clinical trials with tests performed on 5,400 patients with type 2 diabetes.

According to Sanofi, type 1 diabetes patients should not use this drug.

“The FDA continues to support the development of new drug therapies for diabetes management,” said Mary Thanh Hai Parks, M.D., deputy director, Office of Drug Evaluation II in the FDA’s Centre for Drug Evaluation and Research. “Adlyxin will add to the available treatment options to control blood sugar levels for those with type 2.”

In September last year, Google and the French pharmaceutical announced a joint venture focused on diabetes care.

The venture, called Onduo, initially focused on type 2 diabetes, the more common form of the disease. The prevalence of type 2 diabetes is soaring globally as obesity rates also rise.