[LLY WLA SmithKline] Early Drug Treatment Can Curb Diabetes Complications (Update3)
Bloomberg News
September 11, 1998, 7:04 a.m. ET
Early Drug Treatment Can Curb Diabetes Complications (Update3)
(Adds analysts' comment in 11th-13th paragraphs, tightens
first paragraphs.)
Barcelona, Sept. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Life-threatening diabetes
complications such as heart and kidney problems can be greatly
reduced if doctors prescribe more drugs earlier to cut patients'
blood-sugar and blood-pressure levels, a new study shows.
The U.K. Prospective Diabetes Study, the longest study ever
conducted on the most common form of diabetes -- so-called Type
II -- found that by aggressively using available drugs, doctors
could prevent complications that many thought were inevitable.
The study could lead to increased prescriptions of diabetes
and hypertension drugs -- a benefit for companies such as
diabetes market leaders Novo Nordisk A/S and Eli Lilly & Co. and
Zeneca Group Plc, the maker of hypertension drugs used in the
study. Analysts estimate the worldwide market for Type II
diabetes treatments will triple to $7 billion by 2004, from an
estimated $2.5 billion last year.
''At present, diabetic complications are often regarded as
being a natural outcome of this chronic disease,'' said Robert
Turner, who teaches medicine at the University of Oxford and
directed the study. ''The study shows definitively that good
management does help prevent complications.''
The results of the 20-year study come as diabetes, a
disorder characterized by the body's inability to regulate blood-
sugar levels, claims more victims as the world's population ages,
eats fattier diets and leads a more sedentary life.
All Efforts Beneficial
The studies, conducted on more than 5,000 patients aged 25
to 65 and recently diagnosed with diabetes, showed any reduction
in blood-sugar and blood-pressure levels cuts the risk of heart
disease, kidney failure, vision problems and other complications
associated with the disease.
''It's the strongest evidence to date to show how important
it is to use available therapies,'' said James Anderson, a
research physician for Indianapolis-based Lilly, the world's No.
2 maker of diabetes treatments behind Novo of Denmark.
Doctors had previously observed that lower blood-sugar
levels were linked to fewer diabetes-related complications. Until
now, nobody had established that bringing down the level of sugar
in the blood would cut down on the occurrence of such diseases.
''Imagine you'd known for years that taller people were more
at risk of heart attacks,'' said David Matthews, who heads
clinical diabetes services at Oxford Hospital in the U.K. ''You'd
still need to establish that reducing their height would make
them less prone to heart attacks. That's in effect what this
study is showing.''
Drugs Safe
Researchers, who presented the data in the first part of a
two-day session at this week's meeting of the European
Association for the Study of Diabetes, also said the study found
few long-term adverse effects in treatments such as insulin, the
chemical messenger the body normally makes to regulate how blood
sugar gets to cells, which is sold by Lilly, Novo, and Hoechst
AG; sulfonylureas, a class of drugs that boosts the body's own
insulin secretion and includes Pfizer Inc.'s Glucotrol and
Hoechst's Amaryl; and metformin, a more recent kind of diabetes
treatment that inhibit glucose output from the liver, sold for
instance by Merck KGaA and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. under the
name Glucophage.
''On balance, this has to be positive for drugmakers,'' said
Stewart Adkins, an analyst at Lehman Brothers in London.
Analysts cautioned, however, that the study only reinforces
what doctors already suspected and that many patients already
take a combination of drugs to cut the level of sugar in their
blood. They said while the research could point to increased
sales of insulin, the hormone is coming under pressure from a new
generation of oral diabetes treatments that weren't examined in
the study, and diabetics with few symptoms might be reluctant to
take insulin shots before meals -- regardless of their doctors'
recommendation.
''It's always easier to pop a pill than it is to inject
yourself,'' said Robin Campbell, an analyst at Paribas Capital
Markets in London.
Drugmakers Rejoice
Researchers, for their part, said their findings could
result in higher sales of insulin, which is currently used mostly
for Type I diabetics and in the late stages of Type II, when
patients' bodies produce almost no more insulin. Oral treatments
such as metformin, sulfonylureas or the newer generation of
glitazones work better in the early stages of the disease because
they either stimulate the body's insulin secretion, or its
sensitivity to existing insulin.
''More patients will probably take insulin than they used
to,'' said Turner of Oxford. ''And patients might be taking
three, four, or five kinds of tablets a day if they also have a
hypertension problem.''
That's good news for Novo, Lilly and others who've been
trying to win a bigger slice of the growing market for diabetic
treatments. The two drugmakers, as well as Glaxo Wellcome Plc,
Bristol-Myers, Hoechst, Roche Holding AG and SmithKline Beecham
Plc, helped fund the study along with government and charity
grants.
The study ''supports our current recommendations and
strategies regarding the treatment of type II diabetes,'' Lars
Rebien Soerensen, Novo executive vice president, said in a
prepared statement.
Different Strategies
Novo is counting on a key drug, Prandin, to extend its lead
as competitors push to enter the market and Lilly looks for ways
to rejuvenate insulin.
Prandin, or NovoNorm as it's known in Europe, works by
stimulating the pancreas to produce insulin. It's designed to be
taken with meals so that it can keep glucose levels stable at
times when they vary the most, and it's part of a growing market
for oral therapies used in patients before their bodies become
unable to produce insulin.
Lilly, for its part, is working with Japan's Takeda Chemical
Industries on a product that may rival Warner-Lambert Co.'s
Rezulin, one of the fastest-growing diabetes drugs in the U.S.
It's also moving trying to give insulin a lift. The U.S.
drugmaker will also next year introduce a new form of insulin
that studies show is more effective than existing treatments.
SmithKline and Novartis AG are among the other drugmakers
likely to benefit from this study because they make oral
treatments that work in combination and can be used with insulin.
--Marthe Fourcade in Barcelona and Theresa Waldrop in Zurich, |
