Lilly to Introduce New, More Effective Insulin Mix Next Year
Bloomberg News
September 8, 1998, 3:19 p.m. ET
Lilly to Introduce New, More Effective Insulin Mix Next Year
Barcelona, Sept. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Eli Lilly & Co., the
world's No. 2 maker of diabetes treatments, will next year
introduce a new form of insulin which studies show is more
effective and easier to use than existing treatments.
Researchers at the 34th meeting of the European Association
for the Study of Diabetes said the new product, HumalogMix 25,
reduces the peak level of glucose, or blood sugar, that occurs in
diabetics after meals by a third more than existing treatments.
Diabetics take the hormone insulin to help them process glucose.
''Studies show the product is not only more effective, it's
also more convenient to use'' because it can be injected shortly
before or after meals, said Rudolf Prager, an Austrian diabetes
specialist at the University of Vienna.
The new product, to be introduced in Europe next year and in
the U.S. in 2000, will compete with Novo Nordisk A/S's Novolin
and Lilly's own Humulin. Novo of Denmark controls 50 percent of
the world's insulin market, compared with Lilly's 45 percent.
Hoechst AG also sells insulin products.
Shares of Indianapolis-based Lilly, the world's 10th biggest
drugmaker, rose 2 1/16 to 73 in recent trading.
Analysts say the battle for a piece of the $2.5 billion
diabetes market is heating up as the disease claims more victims
and traditional treatments, such as insulin, come under pressure
from a new generation of drugs.
Diabetes, a chronic disorder characterized by the body's
inability to properly regulate glucose levels, is becoming more
prevalent because of fattier diets and sedentary lifestyles. The
worldwide market for Type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the
disease, will almost triple in size by 2004 to an estimated $7
billion, according to analysts at Societe Generale.
Lilly's new product mixes 25 percent of the company's fast-
acting genetically-engineered insulin, known as Humalog, with 75
percent of a slower-acting compound. Currently, the most widely
used treatments contain 30 percent of human insulin -- which also
acts quickly -- and 70 percent of a longer-acting natural
insulin, said Veikko Koivisto, who directs endocrine research at
Lilly in Europe.
Researchers estimate premixed formulas of fast and slow
acting insulin, also sold by Hoechst AG of Germany, make up 40
percent of all insulin sales.
--Marthe Fourcade in Barcelona through the Washington newsroom |
