UK's NICE backs Janssen's Invokana for type 2 diabetes

Janssen, a subsidiary of US health care giant Johnson & Johnson, said today that it welcomes the publication of the Final Appraisal Determination (FAD) from UK drugs watchdog the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), for Invokana (canagliflozin), a new treatment option indicated for reducing blood glucose levels in people for whom diet and lifestyle measures or treatment with other blood glucose-lowering medicines, do not provide adequate control.

Canagliflozin also has the additional benefits of modest weight loss (2%-3%) and blood pressure reduction (although is not licensed for use in weight loss or blood pressure reduction), Janssen noted.

This announcement comes just two months after the UK launch of canagliflozin. The NICE FAD recommends canagliflozin to be used as a treatment for adults with type 2 diabetes, as either dual therapy(in combination with metformin, only if a sulfonylurea is contraindicated or not tolerated, orwhere the person is at significant risk of hypoglycemia or its consequences) or triple therapy(in combination with metformin and a sulfonylurea, or metformin and thiazolidinedione), or in combination with insulin(with or without other antidiabetic therapies).