Dubai: A new diabetes drug will also help fight obesity, according to the company that is launching the drug in the UAE.
Victoza has been designed to help treat Type 2 diabetes and will be available in the UAE next week, Lars Sorenson, chief executive officer of Danish healthcare firm Novo Nordisk, told Gulf News in an exclusive interview.
He added that recent clinical trials showed that the drug could help highly obese individuals who did not have diabetes, but who were pre-diabetic (borderline cases), lose weight.
Victoza has been described as the first once-daily treatment for diabetes with a potential to aid weight loss, reduce blood pressure and improve the function of beta cells, which make and release insulin, a hormone that controls the level of glucose in the blood.
Approval
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the drug, a once-daily injection, to treat type 2 diabetes in some adults.
The company spent nearly 10 years developing a molecule that would act like a naturally occurring hormone called GLP-1, short for glucagon-like peptide 1, a naturally occurring compound that works on different organs to lower blood sugar levels. The drug is intended to help lower blood sugar along with diet, exercise, and other diabetes medicines. It is not recommended as initial therapy in patients who have not achieved adequate diabetes control with diet and exercise. Common side effects include headache, nausea, and diarrhoea.
