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Biotech / Medical : Pharma News Only (pfe,mrk,wla, sgp, ahp, bmy, lly) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Anthony Wong who wrote (1315)	1/19/1999 7:47:00 AM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1722

Takeda Chemical Files New-Drug Application for Diabetes Pill Bloomberg News January 18, 1999, 3:34 p.m. ET Takeda Chemical Files New-Drug Application for Diabetes Pill Washington, Jan. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Japan's Takeda Chemical Industries Ltd. filed a new-drug application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to market its Actos oral diabetes treatment. Actos, or pioglitazone hydrochloride, allows some diabetics to avoid insulin injections. Takeda said Actos may be used on its own or in conjunction with other treatments and has been studied in more than 2,500 patients in the U.S., the company said. If the drug is approved by the FDA, Osaka-based Takeda will market Actos with Eli Lilly & Co. as part of an agreement signed last year. Lilly and Takeda have asked the FDA for an expedited review of the drug, which could have a market of $755 million and be available later this year, said Don Hannaford, a spokesman for Takeda. Actos is one of a new group of compounds called thiazolidindiones. They work by reducing the body's resistance to insulin rather than simply increasing the supply as do many other treatments. ''Because the drug attacks one of the basic causes of the disease, Actos offers a more logical approach to treatment than many other therapies,'' Roberta Schneider, vice president of drug development at Takeda America, said in a statement. Hannaford said that about 30 percent of the U.S. Medicaid budget goes towards treating diabetes and its complications. Medicaid is the government's health insurance program for the elderly. The application comes at a time of heightened competition in the $2.5 billion world market for treating type-2 diabetes, a common, chronic condition that usually occurs in people over age 45. Diabetes affects an estimated 135 million people worldwide and can lead to serious health complications, including blindness and kidney failure. Last week, stock of Lilly rival Warner-Lambert Co. fell in part over concern about the safety of its Rezulin diabetes pill, which has been linked to liver damage and 33 deaths. Rezulin is undergoing a new safety review in light of the problems. Indianapolis-based Lilly said in October that year-to-date sales of insulin products increased 9 percent to $816.4 million, its third biggest-selling product group after the antidepressant Prozac and Zyprexa, a schizophrenia drug. --Jennifer Farley in the Princeton newsroom (609) 279-4104 mos