Novo Nordisk debuts Saxenda in the USA

Danish diabetes care giant Novo Nordisk (NOV: N) says that Saxenda (liraglutide [rDNA origin] injection) is now available in the USA, the first market to get the product. Saxenda is the first once-daily glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist for chronic weight management in adults.

Saxenda, which is a high dose version of Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster diabetes treatment Victoza, was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration last year The Pharma Letter December 24, 20140) as an adjunct to a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity for chronic weight management in adults with obesity (BMI >30kg/m2) or who are overweight (BMI >2 kg/m2) in the presence of at least one weight-related co-morbid condition. It was also cleared for marketing in Europe last month (TPL March 24).

Recently recognized as a disease by the American Medical Association and other medical societies, obesity has grown in prevalence in the USA and around the world.In fact, approximately 35% of the US adult population lived with obesity in 2011 to 2012.