Victoza launched as treatment for type 2 diabetes

Novo Nordisk, the reputed multinational Danish company, a world leader in diabetes related products, launched a new drug – Victoza – for treating adults with type 2 diabetes in Sri Lanka recently.

Victoza (generic name: Liraglutide) which has multiple benefits was launched at an event on 31 March attended by well known specialist physicians and medical practitioners who treat persons with diabetes.

At the launch, eminent speakers Prof. Harish Kumar from Kerala, India and Dr. Noel Somasundaram from the National Hospital of Sri Lanka presented the results from several large clinical studies using Victoza and clarified on its place in therapy.

Victoza is available in over 50 countries across the world including USA, Europe, Japan, Brazil, Russia, India, China and other Asian countries. The product is distributed in Sri Lanka by Swiss Biogenics Limited.

Diabetes is a metabolic condition that leads to high blood sugar levels which can have serious consequences for short and long-term health. People with diabetes experience raised blood sugar because of either a partial or complete reduction of insulin production in their body.

The two types of diabetes that is prevalent in patients are type 1 and type 2. Most people with diabetes (90-95%) have type 2, where the pancreas produces insufficient quantities of insulin and/or the insulin has a reduced effect on the muscle and liver cells for regulating blood sugar levels.

According to the first comprehensive national level study (Katulanda P et al. Prevalence and projections of diabetes and pre-diabetes in adults in Sri Lanka - Sri Lanka Diabetes, Cardiovascular Study (SLDCS), Diabetic Medicine 2008; 25:1062–1069) that measured the prevalence of diabetes in adults over 20 years of age in Sri Lanka, one in five adults suffer from either diabetes or pre-diabetes and one-third of those with diabetes are undiagnosed.

Such a burden of diabetes in Sri Lanka may result in enormous health costs in treating the many serious complications that arise from the condition (blindness, kidney failure, limb amputations and cardiovascular disease).

“Victoza is Novo Nordisk’s treatment for type 2 diabetes mellitus, which has been developed to fill an unmet medical need. Almost half of the patients currently on medication for type 2 diabetes fail to achieve healthy blood sugar levels. For patients with type 2 diabetes who are not able to achieve healthy blood sugar levels with common first-line drug (metformin), treatment with Victoza provides a number of benefits including reduction in blood sugar levels,” said Dr. Srishyla, who heads medical affairs at Novo Nordisk for their Sri Lankan operations.

“In a person without diabetes, the body is able to balance various hormones to achieve healthy blood sugar levels. In a person with type 2 diabetes, that balance is not achieved, in part because the effect of an important hormone (called GLP-1) produced by the human intestine is impaired. Victoza builds upon the scientific understanding of this root cause of type 2 diabetes viz.

the impairment of GLP-1 and its effect on the insulin-producing (beta) cells of the pancreas. Victoza, similar to the body’s GLP-1, increases the release of insulin into the blood when it is needed and helps keep glucose levels normal,” he added.

In addition to helping keep glucose levels normal, Victoza helps people with type 2 diabetes feel full for longer by slowing digestion, and therefore helps to control satiety. It also suppresses the release of glucagon (a hormone secreted by the pancreas that raises blood glucose levels), and consequently, decreases excess release of sugar into the blood by the liver.

Victoza is a smart therapy. It works over 24 hours but only lowers blood glucose to healthy levels when it is needed – for example, when the sugar level is elevated after a meal. Therefore, Victoza has a low risk of causing hypoglycaemia – or dangerously low blood sugar levels.

Hypoglycaemia is a dangerous side effect of some other diabetes drugs and can lead to seizures and coma among people with diabetes. In parallel with reducing blood sugar levels, Victoza also provides other benefits such as weight loss and lowering of systolic blood pressure, when compared to most other type 2 diabetes drugs.

Victoza is used together with diet and exercise (adjunct therapy) to improve blood sugar levels in adults with type 2 diabetes, in whom metformin alone (monotherapy) is no longer effective. Treatment guidelines from the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) and the American Diabetes Association (ADA) recommend GLP-1 receptor agonists, like Victoza, in their tier 2 recommendation as an option for early use after metformin. Victoza can be used as monotherapy as well.