This Wednesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the sale of Basaglar, Eli Lilly’s cheaper version of Lantus, which is Sanofi’s drug used to treat diabetes.
Basaglar is an injection which is also called insulin glargine, a man-made, long-acting human insulin, and also the first to be approved by the FDA on a shortened review process based on its similarity to another drug; in this case, Lantus. The drug had already received a tentative approval back in August of 2014.
Eli Lilly, which is partnered with Boehringer Ingelheim, will launch the drug into the market by December of next year. The agreement came after both pharmaceutical companies — Sanofi and Eli Lilly — came to a settlement on the issue of Basaglar’s patent.
“Basaglar will be a welcome addition to our insulin and alliance portfolios, offering an option for people with diabetes who may need a long-acting insulin,” said Dr. David Kendall, Lilly Diabetes’ vice president for Global Medical Affairs. Basaglar’s approval represents the first commercial insulin worldwide in 90 years.
Wednesday’s FDA approval is the 11th for Basaglar around the globe. This year the drug will be released simultaneously in various locations worldwide, such as Europe, where it’ll be known as Abasaglar.
Greg Kueterman, an Eli Lilly spokesman, reported that the company still hasn’t come up with a price for the drug; however, he assured it would be cheaper than Lantus. Sanofi’s competitor drug has gathered over $8 billion in last year’s sales.
Eli Lilly’s insulin treatment is meant to control high blood sugar in children and adults suffering from type 1 diabetes and adults with type 2 diabetes, although it is contraindicated for those patients hypersensitive to insulin glargine. It comes in individual doses and it is administrated subcutaneously on a daily basis at the same given hour.
Diabetes affects nearly 21 million Americans, and it may boost their risk to develop dangerous health conditions like kidney and nerve damage, heart problems and even blindness.
Source: Tech Times