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In part 3, the conclusion of this Exclusive Interview, Rachele Berria talks with Diabetes in Control Publisher Steve Freed about the focus on the impact of certain medications on specific populations.
Rachele Berria is global vice president and head of medical affairs at Sanofi in Bridgewater, New Jersey.
Transcript of this video segment:
Freed: Now, one of the things that I’ve noticed is that last year we saw studies that directed to different classes of people, African-American, [for example], does this work better for an African-American or White Anglo-Saxon or Asian? Are you doing kind of looking at how particular medicines affect particular nationality?
Berria: Well, that’s the idea. It’s usually done whole stock in the various clinical trials. We are doing two things. We’re looking at it in these large databases that I was describing to you using predictive analytics. And also, in this new randomized clinical trial, we’re looking at it prospectively and pre-specifying this hypothesis, which is fairly novel. There’s not many examples of that.
Freed: Because now, when you look at the drug literature you don’t see different nationalities, percentage dropping A1C for African-Americans is one point or point A.
Berria: You’re correct, yeah.
Freed: So, I’m thinking that in the future more information we have that would be important information where you don’t have to waste time, effort, and money prescribing something that may not be as effective.
Berria: Absolutely. It’s part of personalized medicine in a way.
Freed: So, what has Sanofi done to help address the unmet needs of diabetes patients through its portfolio over the last year?
Berria: Over the last year, well, we’ve been really busy working on our Zynquista filing. We submitted that to the FDA and the file was accepted for review. This is the SGLT2 and one inhibitor that could potentially be the first oral medication as an additional option to be added to insulin therapy for patients with type 1 diabetes. We also have ongoing all the clinical trials in patients with type 2 diabetes. We have Soliqua 100/33 that we’re still actively studying. It is in the market. And clinicians and patients are starting to appreciate the benefits of both classes of drug. And I don’t know if you’re familiar with the “ominous octect” that type 2 diabetes is a constellation of pathophysiological defects. And this is actually my mentor, Dr. Ralph DeFronzo, that talked about many, many years ago that Soliqua 100/33 really works on seven out of the eight pathophysiological defects of type 2 diabetes. And of course last but not least, is the partnership with Onduo with the Virtual Diabetes Clinics that will help our patients.