Diabetes pill > diabetes injection

More exciting diabetes news out of ADA: Novo Nordisk may be gearing up for a win, having just revealed some promising data on an experimental oral diabetes drug.

Some of the more effective drugs for Type 2 diabetes belong to a class called glucagon-like peptide-one receptor agonists. These drugs, which include brands such as Eli Lilly’s Trulicity and Novo Nordisk’s Victoza, help lower both blood sugar and body weight — but are currently only approved as injections. 

A new Novo Nordisk-backed study, published in the Lancet, found that a GLP-1 receptor agonist taken in pill-form, dubbed oral semaglutide, is actually more effective than its injectable counterparts in lowering body weight — and no worse at lowering blood sugar. The drug was similar, in terms of tolerability, to its competitors. 

Pills are, of course, a bit more palatable to diabetes patients than daily injections — making these findings particularly promising for Novo Nordisk. It filed a new drug application with the FDA for oral semaglutide just this past March.