Sanofi-aventis publishes positive diabetes trial results

Sanofi-aventis has published results from a clinical trial which support the efficacy of its new treatment for type 2 diabetes.

The pharmaceutical company conducted a phase III study of the once-daily GLP-1 agonist lixisenatide in order to gauge its efficacy in reducing glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) levels among patients.

It was found that those tested with the drug showed significantly reduced HbA1c when compared to a placebo control group, while improvements in fasting
plasma glucose and two-hour post-prandial glucose were also noted.

Dr Marc Cluzel, executive vice-president of research and development at Sanofi-aventis, said he is looking forward to sharing further data on the trial at the Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes in September 2010.

He added: “Developing new diabetes treatments like lixisenatide and helping patients achieve diabetes control is paramount to tackling the growing diabetes epidemic.”

This comes after the firm earlier this month licensed a potentially groundbreaking CureDM diabetes treatment which can help to restore pancreatic function among sufferers.