Following is a list of 20 FDA-approved treatments for patients with diabetes ranked by their 2013 sales, as reported by the companies that market them. Drugs are listed by name, sponsor(s), and sales data.
Missing from the list are several treatments which were either launched last year with no sales numbers furnished by their marketers, or were launched this year. An example of the former is Johnson & Johnson’s Invokana (canagliflozin), which the company said enjoyed “strong sales” last year, without disclosing a figure. The closest to an actual number is a widely quoted estimate by Wells Fargo analyst Lawrence Biegelson projecting that Invokana was to have generated $122 million in first-year 2013 sales.
Next year’s list could include several diabetes products approved this year. Two examples of these are Boehringer Ingelheim’s Jardiance (empagliflozin), a sodium glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor for type 2 diabetes in adults; and Eli Lilly’s Trulicity (dulaglutuide), a weekly glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist for adults with type 2 diabetes.
The FDA also approved AstraZeneca’s SGLT2 inhibitor Farxiga (dapagliflozin) on January 8—two months after the European Commission gave its nod to the drug under the trade name Forxiga. Farxiga/Forxiga was developed through AstraZeneca’s former diabetes alliance with Bristol-Myers Squibb, until BMS sold its interest to AZ in a deal completed February 1 and valued at up to $4.3 billion. A twice-daily combination treatment of dapagliflozin and metformin, trade-named Xigduo, won European marketing authorization on January 22, 2014, while a once-daily formulation, Xigduo XR, got FDA’s nod on October 29 and earlier gained Australian approval.
The EC in September approved Novo Nordisk’s Xultophy, a once-daily single injection combination of Victoza (liraglutide), which appears on this year’s list—and, Tresiba (insulin degludec), which was rejected last year by the FDA but has been marketed in Europe since early 2013. The FDA, however, insisted on another clinical trial assessing Tresiba and a second Novo combo candidate, Ryzodeg (insulin degludec/insulin aspart).