New diabetes drug gets Nice recommendation
Clinical Draft guidelines say canagliflozin, which has been launched under the name Invokana, is a useful addition "to the armoury”
Nice is recommending the type 2 diabetes treatment canagliflozin as a useful addition "to the armoury" of anti-diabetic drugs, in draft guidelines released last week (February 20).
The drug, launched by manufacturer Janssen on Monday (February 24) under the brand Invokana, is a once-daily tablet belonging to a new class of medicines called sodium glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors, Nice said.
Canagliflozin could be used in combination with other anti-diabetic drugs, including insulin, Nice has said |
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The drug could be used in combination with metformin to treat patients at "significant risk" of hypoglycaemia or in those for whom sulfonylurea was contraindicated or not tolerated. It could also be used as part of a third therapy regime with metformin and sulfonylurea or as an add-on therapy with insulin, it said. |
Canagliflozin 100mg and 300mg had been shown to be a "cost-effective use of NHS resources", Nice said.
The treatment worked differently to other anti-diabetic drugs by blocking the kidney's re-absorption of glucose, allowing excess excretion in the urine, Janssen said.
Researchers had found Invokana to be "generally well tolerated" in clinical trials involving more than 10,000 patients. It had lowered blood glucose levels without increasing risks of hypoglycaemia and was not associated with an increase in cardiovascular risk, the manufacturer said. Its most common side effects were genital fungal infections, urinary tract infections and increased urination.
The consultation on Nice's draft guidelines will run until March 17.