AstraZeneca's diabetes drug Farxiga approved by FDA

13th Jan 2014 07:08

AstraZeneca's diabetes drug Farxiga has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. The drug, which AstraZeneca developed with Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, is a once-daily oral treatment to improve glycaemic control in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus.The drug can be taken with or without food. Farxiga is part of a newer class of medicines called sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors, which remove glucose via the kidneys."The addition of Farxiga to our US treatment portfolio is a step forward as we work to help reduce the burden of type 2 diabetes by offering a range of treatment options with different modes of action," said Briggs Morrison, Executive Vice President, Global Medicines Development and Chief Medical Officer at AstraZeneca. "We aim to help adults with type 2 diabetes, and their doctors, create individualised treatment programmes that will help patients lower their glucose levels." The approval of the drug followed 24 clinical studies evaluating safety. More than 11,000 adults with type 2 diabetes were involved in the study, including more than 6,000 patients treated with Farxiga. RD