Even as Novo Nordisk works to steal diabetes market share with its new GLP-1 drug Ozempic, it’s advancing an oral version that could pose another threat to rivals in the field. In a new phase 3 study, Novo said oral semaglutide helped patients manage their blood sugar levels better than Eli Lilly and Boehringer Ingelheim’s Jardiance.
In the Pioneer-2 trial, Novo’s oral semaglutide helped patients reduce HbA1c blood sugar levels by 1.4% at 26 weeks and 1.3% at 52 weeks, both statistically significant over Jardiance’s 0.9% at 26 weeks and 0.8% at 52 weeks. Additionally, 72% of patients on oral semaglutide achieved HbA1c levels below 7%, compared with 47% for Jardiance, an SGLT2 drug.