New diabetes data highlights promising drug class

Aside from the closely-watched taspoglutide data, a slew of new reports came out of the ADA meeting on experimental diabetes drugs. Here's a sampling of the top news stories:

Boehringer Ingelheim laid out data from five trials of its diabetes drug linagliptin, demonstrating lowered blood glucose compared to a placebo. Boehringer is hopeful that the therapy can compete against Januvia and Onglyza after proving that the DPP-4 inhibitor works effectively without having to adjust the dose to the patient. Story

Orexigen released new data demonstrating how Contrave spurred weight loss among diabetics, helping them to achieve healthier blood glucose levels. Priscilla Hollander, an investigator at Baylor Medical Center, said the data showed how weight loss and weight management could help diabetics. Orexigen's study involved more than 500 Type 2 patients. Contrave has been filed for an approval. Report

Bristol-Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca revealed that a late-stage study demonstrated that its drug dapagliflozin outperformed a placebo. The trial recruited more than 800 Type 2 patients and tested three doses of dapagliflozin and insulin in comparison to an insulin/placebo combo. Story

On Saturday Novo Nordisk announced that a mid-stage study of the experimental degludec insulin could effectively lower blood sugar levels when administered only three times a week. "(Blood sugar) reductions were similar across the once-daily and three-times-weekly insulin degludec groups ... and comparable to insulin glargine," Novo said. Novo also touted new data on Victoza, which was approved in the U.S. earlier this year. Report/Story

A 12-week study of Johnson & Johnson's canagliflozin produced a bigger drop in blood sugar than Merck's Januvia. The drug is headed into Phase III. Report