Changes Recommended for the Use of Victoza at Low Dose

The cost watchdog for Britain’s publicly-funded National Health Service has recommended daily use of Novo Nordisk A/S’s (NOVO-B.KO) product Victoza for some people with Type 2 diabetes, but only at a daily dosage of 1.2 milligrams….

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, or NICE, said in draft guidance it didn’t recommend Victoza, or liraglutide, at 1.8 milligrams, on cost-benefit grounds.

Carole Longson, Health Technology Evaluation Centre Director at NICE said, “There are about 2.5 million people in the U.K. living with diabetes, 90% of whom have Type 2 diabetes. It is a serious, progressive disease, and so we are pleased to be able to recommend liraglutide 1.2 milligrams daily as a clinically and cost effective treatment option for some patients with Type 2 diabetes. We were unable to recommend use of the higher dose however, as the available evidence does not suggest any significant additional benefit.”

Novo Nordisk in a statement said that it “continues to advocate the use of liraglutide 1.8 milligrams as good value in a defined group of patients.”

The Danish company noted that, under NICE’s draft guidance, Victoza 1.2 milligrams can be used in combination with one oral anti-diabetic tablet if other tablets are unsuitable in combination with other current treatments or can’t be taken due to physical intolerance.

NICE said its final guidance on the matter will probably be published next month.

Victoza, a once-daily injectable human GLP-1 analogue insulin licensed in Europe, the U.S., Japan and India, has been available in the U.K. since July 2009 for the treatment of people with Type 2 diabetes in combination with oral anti-diabetic tablets metformin, sulphonylureas or thiazolidinediones in specific combinations. The drug lowers blood glucose levels by stimulating the release of insulin only when glucose levels become too high. Victoza also inhibits appetite.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, or NICE