Good 2 yr sugar control on Amylin/Lilly's Byetta

US drugmakers Amylin and Eli Lilly say that their co-developed Byetta (exenatide) injection sustained improvements in blood sugar control and reduced body weight in people with type 2 diabetes who previously did not achieve adequate control on common oral medications.

These findings, which were presented at the 66th annual scientific sessions of the American Diabetes Association held in Washington DC, show that, after two years of treatment, patients sustained an average hemoglobin A1C reduction of 1.1% from baseline, which compares to an A1C reduction of 1.1% at the end of the initial 30-week clinical trial, demonstrating sustained efficacy over the two-year period.

The agent was approved in April 2005 as an adjunctive therapy for patients not achieving blood sugar control on metformin and/or a sulfonylurea-based regimens.