Lexicon Pharmaceuticals ($LXRX) says its SGLT1/SGLT2 inhibitor posted promising results in a Phase IIb study for treatment-resistant Type 2 diabetes. Investigators say the drug--LX4211--posted statistically significant results for lowering blood sugar as well as weight and blood pressure.
The pill is designed to reduce the amount of glucose entering the bloodstream through the GI tract--through the SGLT1 inhibitor--while increasing the amount of glucose excreted in urine, the SGLT2 segment of the therapeutic equation. Investigators for The Woodlands, TX-based biotech say they gathered solid scores in the dose-escalation study and are now ready to launch Phase III in the first half of next year.
"We believe the encouraging results obtained from this study further differentiate LX4211 from the SGLT2-selective inhibitors currently in development," said Dr. Brian Zambrowicz, Lexicon's chief scientific officer. "The enhanced glycemic control and favorable safety profile observed in this study are characteristics we believe are related to LX4211's dual mechanism of action."
Lexicon has good reason to differentiate itself from the other SGLT2 drugs in the pipeline. The FDA rejected dapagliflozin, an SGLT2 inhibitor from AstraZeneca ($AZN) and Bristol-Myers Squibb ($BMY), early this year after raising a red flag over their concerns about the cancer cases recorded in clinical studies. Johnson & Johnson ($JNJ), though, wowed analysts recently with its late-stage data on canagliflozin, which edged out Januvia in one of five late-stage studies for the drug.
- here's the press release