Significant Weight Loss With Liraglutide

Novo Nordisk announces results of a phase II clinical trial for liraglutide, which shows significant weight loss in obese people.

The drug given once daily over 20 weeks at the highest dose led to a weight loss of just above 7 kg, compared to just below 3 kg in the placebo group and just above 4 kg in a group treated with Xenical, or orlistat.

The patients enrolled did not have diabetes, but 30 percent showed signs of pre-diabetes.

"(The results) give us reason to believe that liraglutide has the potential to become a new and important treatment option in the fight against serious obesity," Novo Nordisk’s chief science officer, Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen, said in a statement.
Liraglutide is a modification of a naturally occurring hormone, which Novo is developing primarily as a treatment for type 2 diabetes, where it has shown improved glucose control and lower body weight in phase III studies.

Novo plans to file for an approval review for liraglutide in the United States and Europe toward the end of the second quarter of 2008.
Novo Nordisk New Release

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