China approves Novo Nordisk diabetes drug Victoza

Danish insulin giant Novo Nordisk (NVO: N) said last night that the Chinese State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) has approved Victoza (liraglutide) for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and the company expects to launch the product in that market during the second quarter of this year. Approval in China comes sooner than expected, as the company had previously anticipated this would come through in the second half of this year.

China’s type 2 diabetes market will increase from a value of $1.4 billion in 2009 to $2.5 billion in 2014, according to an emerging markets report from advisory firm Decision Resources, which attributes this growth to an increasing drug-treated population, expanding medical insurance coverage and the launch and adoption of new drugs in the market (The Pharma Letter December 3, 2010).

Victoza is the first once-daily human glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analogue approved in China, developed for the treatment of type 2 diabetes in adults. Victoza is indicated as an add-on to metformin or sulfonylurea (SU) in people with type 2 diabetes.