Studies: Bydureon shows improvements in cardiovascular health

LISBON, Portugal — Patients treated with a long-acting drug for Type 2 diabetes experienced a reduction in cardiovascular health risk factors, according to results of a study presented at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes' annual meeting.

Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Eli Lilly & Co. and Alkermes said analyses of the "DURATION-3" and "DURATION-4" trials showed that patients treated with Bydureon (exenatide) showed improvements in body weight, blood pressure and lipid levels. Bydureon is a long-acting formulation of the injected drug Byetta.

"Patients with diabetes are at least twice as likely as people without the disease to have heart disease or a stroke," Lilly Diabetes global exenatide medical director James Malone said. "Having other chronic conditions, including obesity, high blood pressure or high cholesterol, further increases this risk."

Patients in the DURATION-3 study received either Bydureon or Sanofi's Lantus (insulin glargine [rDNA origin]) as well as metformin or metformin with a sulfonylurea, both widely used generic treatments for diabetes. In the DURATION-4 trial, patients received Bydureon, metformin, Takeda's Actos (pioglitazone hydrochloride) or Merck & Co.'s Januvia (sitagliptin). In both studies, patients treated with Bydureon showed better blood pressure reduction and weight control than those taking the other drugs.