Keeping tabs on pharma: Novo Nordisk’s diabetes "game-changer" and the rise of antibiotic resistance

Novo Nordisk India launches "game-changing" diabetes drug

Novo Nordisk India has launched the first ever oral version of an anti-diabetes drug, which has previously only been available as an injection.

The GLP-1 RA semaglutide is an effective treatment for Type 2 diabetes, improving the secretion of insulin and lowering blood glucose levels. It is typically administered subcutaneously as it loses efficacy when consumed orally.

Novo Nordisk is hailing the new formulation as a “game-changer”, after spending 15 years continuously researching ways to produce the drug in pill form.

It is hoped that the oral formulation will increase patient adherence to treatment for diabetes, which is essential to reduce complications from the disease. Researchers believe it can also lower costs substantially – in the UK, 80 percent of the annual cost of treating Type 2 diabetes arises from potentially avoidable complications, while it is estimated that direct intervention to control the patient’s blood sugar levels could reduce this to only eight percent.

Antibiotic resistance is leading cause of death

At least 1.2 million people died as a result of antibiotic-resistant infections in 2019, according to new research published in The Lancet.

It is the first time such a comprehensive assessment of the global burden of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been carried out. 

Researchers found that AMR is killing more people than HIV/Aids or malaria, with hundreds of thousands of deaths occurring as a result of common infections caused by bacteria that has become resistant to treatment.

According to the study, resistance is highest in western sub-Saharan Africa and lowest in Australasia, while lower respiratory infections accounted for more than 1.5 million deaths associated with resistance in 2019, making it the most burdensome infectious condition.

The report’s recommendations to combat AMRs include community-based programmes in low- and middle-income countries focused on water, sanitation and hygiene, and preventing infections through vaccinations to reduce the need for antibiotics.

New nasal treatment for viral respiratory infections on the horizon

Poolbeg Pharma has licensed a new intra-nasal antiviral developed at the University of Warwick, UK.

The immunotherapy candidate is currently at a late-pre-clinical development stage, and has been developed to target respiratory viral infections that could include influenza and Covid-19.

The therapy, which will be marketed as POLB 002, blocks nasal cells from replicating the virus.

Jeremy Skillington, PhD, CEO of Poolbeg Pharma, said: "This dual action immunotherapy developed by the team at University of Warwick is a really exciting technology in the field of respiratory virus disease treatments. The data shows it to rapidly reduce viral load and also prevent the likelihood of virus resistance."

Also in the news

• Fresenius Kabi is the latest drug manufacturer to announce its commitment to achieving net zero emissions, in this case by the year 2045.
• Martin Shkreli has received a lifetime ban from the pharmaceutical industry and been ordered to pay US$65m for price gouging. In 2015 Shkreli’s company Turing Pharmaceuticals raised the price of the life-saving drug Daraprim from $13.50 to $750 per tablet.
• Psychedelic therapy specialists Eleusis are set to become a public company and begin clinical trials of ELE-Psilo, a psilocybin-based drug administered by IV infusion to treat depression. 
• GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) chief scientific officer Hal Barron is leaving the company to become the CEO of Silicon Valley anti-ageing start-up Altos Labs.