LILLY, AMYLIN ANNOUNCE NEW DATA ON BYETTA

Eli Lilly and Amylin Pharmaceuticals announced results from a study indicating that Byetta (exenatide) improves blood sugar levels as effectively as biphasic insulin aspart 30/70 (NovoMix 30) for people with Type 2 diabetes failing to achieve acceptable blood sugar control on both metformin and a sulfonylurea, two common oral diabetes medications. These findings were presented at the European Association of the Study of Diabetes meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark.

This long-term clinical trial is the second study conducted at European clinical centers demonstrating that exenatide can control blood sugar as effectively as insulin. During the 52-week study, patients using exenatide showed improvements in three important measures of blood glucose control: fasting blood glucose, postprandial blood glucose and hemoglobin A1C (HbA1C). Exenatide treatment also resulted in an average reduction in body weight.

Thirty-two percent of study participants using exenatide reached target HbA1C of 7 percent or less. HbA1C measures a person's average glucose level over a three-month period and is often used by healthcare providers to assess blood glucose management. When measured against the International Diabetes Federation recommended target HbA1C of 6.5 percent or less, 18 percent of patients in the exenatide group achieved this level compared with 9 percent in the biphasic insulin aspart group.

Patients on exenatide lost an average of 5.5 pounds, while those receiving biphasic insulin aspart gained an average of 6.4 pounds. In addition, exenatide reduced peak blood sugar levels after meals. Both treatments were associated with low rates of daytime and nighttime hypoglycemia.

Exenatide is the first in a new class of medicines known as incretin mimetics and was approved by the FDA in 2005.