Lilly’s weekly insulin works as well as daily products, new studies show
Eli Lilly reported Thursday that its experimental weekly insulin worked as well as daily basal insulin products in two late-stage studies, paving the way for the drug to compete with a similar weekly insulin developed by Novo Nordisk.
In a 52-week trial of type 2 diabetes patients using insulin for the first time, those on the weekly insulin, called efsitora alfa, had a 1.34% reduction in blood sugar levels, while people on the comparator daily insulin degludec, sold as Tresiba by Novo, had a 1.26% lowering. That resulted in patients having blood sugar levels, known as A1C readings, of 6.87% and 6.95%, respectively.
In a separate 26-week trial of type 2 patients who have been using insulin, those on efsitora and the comparator daily insulin glargine, sold by Lilly as Basaglar and Sanofi as Lantus, both saw A1C reductions of 1.07%, resulting in blood sugar levels of 7.12% and 7.11%, respectively.
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