Roche’s Diabetes Drug Meets Goals in Five Studies (Update2)

Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Roche Holding AG said results from five late-stage clinical trials show that its experimental diabetes drug taspoglutide reduced blood sugar levels when compared with or added to widely prescribed treatments.

The drug met the main goals of studies comparing its effectiveness against Sanofi-Aventis SA’s Lantus, Eli Lilly & Co. and Amylin Inc.’s Byetta, and Merck & Co.’s Januvia as well as in tests looking at its use in combination with the generic treatment metformin and against placebo, Basel, Switzerland- based Roche said in an e-mailed statement today.

Taspoglutide, licensed to Roche by French biotechnology company Ipsen SA in 2006, belongs to a newer class of diabetes medicines that imitate a hormone called GLP-1 and stimulate the pancreas to produce more insulin after meals. The once-weekly injection may compete with the twice-daily Byetta shot as Lilly and Amylin also work on a once-a-week version of their drug.

“We already see a high probability that taspoglutide, while not the first in class, may emerge as the best in its class,” analysts at Zuercher Kantonalbank wrote in a research note to clients today. “We also welcome the fact that Roche is building an increasingly diversified product portfolio in growing disease areas and will no longer be so dependent on the cancer market.”

Roche gained 2.60 Swiss francs, or 1.5 percent, to 177.6 francs at 9:48 a.m. in Zurich trading. Ipsen fell 16 cents, or 0.4 percent, to 36.56 euros in Paris.

Diabetes Market

Roche is seeking to expand beyond its best-selling cancer drugs and take a share of the growing diabetes market. Diabetes treatments were the fourth-best selling medications in 2008, with $27 billion in global sales, according to IMS Health Inc., a Norwalk, Connecticut-based company that tracks prescription trends.

More than 20 million Americans have diabetes, which occurs when a patient doesn’t have enough of the hormone insulin used to convert blood sugar to energy. Fatty diets and sedentary lifestyles are contributing to an increase in the condition, which raises the risk of heart disease and metabolic disease.

The number of people with diabetes in the U.S. is expected to almost double to 44 million in the next quarter century as obesity rates skyrocket, according to a study published in Diabetes Care in December.

Novo Nordisk A/S won U.S. approval last month for Victoza, also a so-called GLP-1 analogue. The drugs are among the first facing tougher Food and Drug Administration standards for cardiovascular safety in new diabetes treatments. The standards were implemented in December 2008 after GlaxoSmithKline Plc’s Avandia was linked to heart attacks after eight years on the market.

To contact the reporter on this story: Angela Cullen in Frankfurt at acullen8@bloomberg.net;

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Phil Serafino at pserafino@bloomberg.net