New Diabetes Drug ONGLYZA is Now Available
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A newly approved diabetes drug, Onglyza, is now available in U.S. pharmacies, effective Friday August 14, 2009.
Bristol Myers-Squibb and AstraZeneca PLC, which co-developed and will co-market the drug, said that Onglyza was approved as an adjunct to diet and exercise to improve blood-sugar control in adults for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus.
It belongs to a class of drugs known as DPP-4 inhibitors, and will compete directly with the only other such drug on the market, Merck & Co.'s (MRK) Januvia, which has had the DPP-4 market to itself since it was introduced in 2006.