The Food and Drug Administration has approved AstraZeneca's Qtern, which is taken to help treat Type 2 diabetes.
The new medicine will work in conjunction with diet and exercise to improve blood sugar level control in adults with Type 2 diabetes. The drug is for adults who have inadequate control with dapagliflozin or who are already treated with dapagliflozin and saxagliptin, according an AstraZeneca press release.
“Type 2 diabetes is a complex disease that is at epidemic proportions, affecting more than 29 million people in the US alone," said Elisabeth Björk, vice president and head of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, global medicines development at AstraZeneca.
"The approval of Qtern is good news for patients who may benefit from improved glycemic control by adding a DPP-4 inhibitor to a SGLT-2 inhibitor in a convenient once-daily tablet," Bjork said.
SGLT-2 inhibitors help patients improve their glycemic control by reducing the reabsorption of glucose from the blood and enabling removal by the urine.
