Chong Kun Dang said that it has presented a clinical trial result, which it said confirmed the superior metabolic syndrome improvement of Duvie, its diabetic treatment, in a direct comparison with MSD's Januvia.
The Korean company presented the results at the 2019 European Association for the Study of Diabetes held in Barcelona, Spain.
The study was a large-scale clinical trial participated in by 247 patients at 27 local institutions from January 2015 to October 2018, to confirm the effects of Duvie in improving metabolic syndrome. Duvie, the nation's 20th novel drug, is a Thiazolidinedione-class type 2 diabetes drug developed by Chong Kun Dang.
The research team, led by Professor Kim Doo-man at Kangdong Sacred Heart Hospital, randomly divided 247 patients with type-2 diabetes into two groups and administered either Duvie or Januvia for 24 weeks.
The results showed that there was no significant difference between the two groups regarding the hypoglycemic effect, which was the first endpoint. Also, the team confirmed similar results for the reduction rate of glycated hemoglobin and target reaching rate.
Regarding the proportion of patients with metabolic syndrome, which was the secondary endpoint, Duvie-treated group decreased their metabolic syndrome by 11.9 percent compared to Januvia-treated group's 4.8 percent.
The team also noted that the Duvie-administered group showed excellent effects on improving blood lipid levels such as triglyceride, high-density cholesterol, free fatty acid, and adiponectin.
There were no significant side effects in either group, and there was no significant difference in the incidence of adverse reactions such as weight gain and facial edema.
"The recent increase in the number of diabetic patients with metabolic syndrome makes the results of the study for Duvie significant," said Professor Kim Shin-gon at Korea University Anam Hospital, who participated in the study. "We expect Duvie will become a new treatment option that prevents complications in people with type 2 diabetes."