EMA Committee backs Novo Nordisk’s NovoRapid PumpCart

The European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has adopted a positive opinion recommending marketing of NovoRapid PumpCart in Europe, Danish insulin giant Novo Nordisk (NOV: N) announced this morning.

NovoRapid PumpCart is a 1.6ml prefilled insulin pump cartridge containing the rapid-acting insulin NovoRapid from Novo Nordisk. It is compatible with Roche Diabetes Care's next-generation Accu-Chek Insight diabetes therapy system. NovoRapid PumpCart is currently expected to be launched in selected European countries during 2014 and 2015, the Danish firm said.

NovoRapid PumpCart has been developed in a non-exclusive partnership between Roche Diabetes Care, a unit of Swiss drug major Roche (ROG: SIX), and Novo Nordisk. The prefilled cartridge and insulin delivery system is expected to make insulin pump therapy more convenient for people with diabetes.

"Today, insulin pump users go through a rather complicated process of filling disposable plastic reservoirs with insulin, typically from a larger insulin vial. Now, insulin pump users can simply place a prefilled insulin cartridge into their insulin pump without any extra handling steps," says Jakob Riis, executive vice president, marketing and medical affairs, at Novo Nordisk.