Novo Nordisk diabetes drug Victoza bags FDA approval for heart diseases
Danish pharma firm Novo Nordisk has secured the approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for using its diabetes drug Victoza (liraglutide) to treat heart diseases associated with type 2 diabetes.
The Novo Nordisk diabetes drug Victoza can now be used in the US to decrease the risk of major adverse cardiovascular (CV) events like cardiovascular death, non-fatal myocardial infarction, or non-fatal stroke and also established CV diseases in type 2 diabetes adult patients.
Novo Nordisk says that the human glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analogue is the first type 2 diabetes treatment indicated to decrease the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events. The diabetes drug Victoza has an amino acid sequence 97% similar to 30 amino acid long peptide hormone Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1).
Victoza FDA approval to treat heart diseases comes after the findings from the LEADER trial which proved the statistically significant performance of Novo Nordisk diabetes drug Victoza in combination with standard of care over placebo in reducing the risk of cardiovascular death, non-fatal heart attack or non-fatal stroke.
Novo Nordisk headquarters in Bagsværd, Denmark. Photo courtesy of Novo Nordisk A/S.
Commenting on the latest Victoza FDA approval, Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen, executive vice president and chief science officer of Novo Nordisk stated: “This approval marks an important milestone for millions of Americans living with type 2 diabetes, as cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death in this patient population.
“Victoza now offers people with type 2 diabetes and established cardiovascular disease an effective treatment option to both lower their blood glucose and reduce their cardiovascular risk.”
Approved in the European Union in 2009 for treating type 2 diabetes, Novo Nordisk diabetes drug Victoza is available commercially in over 95 countries. In the US, Victoza got the FDA approval in 2010 to treat type 2 diabetes in addition with diet and exercise to improve regulation of blood glucose levels in adults.