Lilly, BI gear up to present data from studies of diabetes drugs

RIDGEFIELD, Conn. — Just after the approval of their new treatment for Type 2 diabetes, Eli Lilly and Boehringer Ingelheim plan to present data in more than two dozen presentations at the American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions starting this week.

Lilly and BI, which recently launched the oral diabetes drug Tradjenta (linagliptin) will present data from studies of the drug, as well as studies on BI-10773, an investigational diabetes drug made by BI.

The Food and Drug Administration approved Tradjenta in May, and the drug became available in pharmacies last week. Soon after the approval, Amylin Pharmaceuticals, which markets the injected Type 2 diabetes drug Byetta (exenatide), filed a lawsuit against Lilly in an attempt to prevent it from using the same sales staff to market both drugs, alleging that it would infringe on their Byetta agreement; however, a federal judge in San Diego threw out Amylin’s claims.