Drugmakers angle for advantage in treating diabetes

Obesity and longevity have helped make diabetes an epidemic in much of the world, and drugmakers are jockeying to make sure their medicines are used early and often. Companies including Sanofi and Eli Lilly aim to introduce new classes of drugs that could further extend treatment options, and potentially their market share.Once diagnosed, people with type 2 diabetes are commonly treated with generic drugs, followed by several different classes of branded pills, injected medicines and eventually insulin.Some major pharmaceutical players are trying to gain an earlier foothold in that succession of treatment as the market for such drugs has grown dramatically, with global incidence of diabetes reaching nearly 350 million cases over the last 30 years.At the American Diabetes Association meeting in San Diego this week, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals and Lilly promoted their new oral drug, Tradjenta, as a better option for a patient's next line of defense after generics. Tradjenta, also known as linagliptin, is a member of a class of oral drugs known as DPP-4 inhibitors."Our focus is to be the first product to be added to metformin," said John Smith, head of clinical development and medical affairs at Boehringer. Metformin is the generic pill initially prescribed for many diabetes patients.That goal may be helped by the fact that another class of branded diabetes drugs may be falling out of favor. Since patients now live for decades with diabetes, the safety profile of treatments has become even more important. Drugmakers face increased scrutiny of cardiovascular and cancer risks."Patients with type 2 diabetes are living longer, so there is a higher incidence of other problems," said Dr. Joel Zonszein, director of the clinical diabetes center at Montefiore Medical Center in New York.