Exenatide Once Weekly Provided Superior Glucose Control Compared to Lantus(R) in Head-to-Head DURATI...( SAN DIEGO INDIANAPO...),Health

SAN DIEGO, INDIANAPOLIS and CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc., (Nasdaq: AMLN), Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) and Alkermes, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALKS) today announced positive results from a study comparing subjects randomized to either exenatide once weekly or Lantus((R)) (insulin glargine). Patients randomized to exenatide once weekly experienced a statistically superior reduction in A1C, a measure of average blood sugar over three months, of 1.5 percentage points from baseline, compared to a reduction of 1.3 percentage points for Lantus after completing 26 weeks of treatment. At the end of the study, patients treated with exenatide once weekly achieved a mean A1C of 6.8 percent compared with a mean A1C of 7.0 percent in those treated with Lantus. Treatment with exenatide once weekly also produced a statistically significant difference in weight, with a mean weight loss of 5.8 pounds at 26 weeks, compared with a mean weight gain of 3.1 pounds for Lantus, a difference of 8.9 pounds between the treatments.

In addition, although patients treated with exenatide once weekly experienced a greater reduction in blood glucose than those treated with Lantus, they also reported significantly fewer episodes of confirmed hypoglycemia.

These intent-to-treat results were from DURATION-3, the third in a series of studies designed to test the superiority of exenatide once weekly, an investigational diabetes therapy, as compared to other diabetes medications. This 26-week open-label clinical study compared exenatide once weekly to once-daily doses of Lantus in 467 patie
'/>"/>