ICER committee sees benefit in oral semaglutide, but superiority over empagliflozin not demonstrated

There were mixed conclusions from the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) newly-released  Final Evidence Report and  Report-at-a-Glance assessing the comparative clinical effectiveness and value of Danish diabetes giant Novo Nordisk’s (NOV: N) oral semaglutide, branded Rybelsus, a GLP-1 receptor agonist for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

This new therapy is an oral version of the injectable of the company’s Ozempic, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2017. For this analysis, adding oral semaglutide was compared to background therapy with metformin alone, and to three competitors for add-on therapy: liraglutide (Victoza, Novo Nordisk), sitagliptin (Januvia, Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK), and(Jardiance, Boehringer Ingelheim).

During the meeting, the independent evidence appraisal committee New England Comparative Effectiveness Public Advisory Council (CEPAC) members unanimously voted that the evidence was adequate to demonstrate that adding oral semaglutide to ongoing background therapy provides a positive net health benefit, and that this benefit is superior to that provided by adding sitagliptin. However, a majority of the CEPAC found that the evidence did not adequately demonstrate that the net health benefit of adding oral semaglutide was superior to that of adding empagliflozin.