Encouraging weight loss findings for Levemir

Danish insulin giant Novo Nordisk's long-acting modern insulin Levemir (insulin detemir) improves blood glucose control, reduces weight and the risk of overall hypoglycemia when started once daily in patients with type 2 diabetes, according to new data presented at the 19th world congress of the International Diabetes Federation, held in Cape Town, South Africa. The firm noted that the findings, which are from a sub-analysis of its multinational PREDICTIVE study, are important because many type 2 diabetes patients gain weight when they start on other, conventional types of insulin therapy, further increasing their already high risk of cardiovascular disease.

In the study, after 14 weeks, Levemir patients lost 0.7 kg of body weight compared to baseline (p<0.001). The firm noted that weight loss was more pronounced in those who started at a higher weight. Those with a body mass index of 27-29 lost an average of 0.56 kg, while those with a BMI of 31 or higher lost 1.51 kg (p<0.0001).