Novo Nordisk A/S (NOVOB) is likely to proceed with development of a once-weekly version of its
daily diabetes shot Victoza or a medicine from the same class to fend off
competition from Amylin Pharmaceuticals
Inc. (AMLN)’s Bydureon.
Chief Executive Officer Lars Soerensen is “starting to open up” to the idea,
Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen, chief science officer, said in a March 30 interview at
Novo’s headquarters in Bagsvaerd, a town outside Copenhagen.
A long-acting version of Victoza or the experimental semaglutide, a
compound that also mimics the hormone GLP-1 to prompt the pancreas to produce
insulin, would allow some diabetics to cut back on injections and would
challenge Bydureon, the once-weekly version of the older medicine Byetta that
Amylin introduced this year.
Novo will announce which product it has picked when it releases
second-quarter results in August, according to Thomsen. For now it awaits data
on the long-acting version of Victoza.
“Semaglutide is actually looking quite good but what if once-weekly Victoza
looks even better,” he said. “That we still don’t know.”
Novo pushed back its deadline last year for picking a compound after rival
products, including Bydureon, suffered setbacks.
The company, the world’s largest maker of insulin, also said it doesn’t
expect last week’s Food and Drug Administration advisory panel recommendation on weight-loss treatments to delay approval
of Victoza as a weapon against obesity.