ADA highlights: Novo Nordisk's Tresiba and Victoza; Sanofi's U300; Merck & Co's Januvia; Boehringer/Lilly's empagliflozin and Trajenta

Among presentations over the weekend at the 73rd Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association being held in Chicago, Danish insulin giant Novo Nordisk (NOV: N) revealed new data from a one-year extension trial on Tresiba (insulin degludec), showing that type 2 diabetes patients receiving Tresiba have statistically significant better health-related quality of life compared to patients receiving insulin glargine. The data are from the BEGINTONCE LONG trial and showed that the drug also significantly lowered rates of nocturnal confirmed hypoglycemia compared to patients receiving insulin glargine.

Novo Nordisk also presented findings from a new real-world study complement data from clinical trials demonstrating that adults with type 2 diabetes experienced significantly greater improvements in blood glucose control after initiating Victoza (liraglutide) compared with two commonly used type 2 diabetes therapies - sitagliptin and exenatide.

The analysis also found that a significantly greater percentage of people with type 2 diabetes taking Victoza achieved the ADA recommended target HbA1C< 7% level compared to those taking sitagliptin (p<0.0001) and exenatide twice daily (p<0.05).