Novo Nordisk launches new diabetes treatment drug in Ghana

By Benjamin Commey, GNA

Accra, June 28, GNA - Novo Nordisk, a global healthcare company, has launched its new drug for the treatment of diabetes.

The drug, “insulin degludec”, has an ultra-long duration of action lasting beyond 42 hours, which allows for flexibility in day-to-day dosing time.

It also provides a lower risk of overall, severe and nocturnal hypoglycaemia and comparable reductions of blood glucose levels.

In a statement copied to the GNA, Dr Vinay Prusty, Director Clinical, Medical and Regulatory, Business Area Africa and Gulf for Novo Nordisk, explained that patients often miss insulin doses because they were unable to inject at the same time every day, a situation he said was a limitation of earlier basal insulin preparations.

“Insulin degludec addresses this need because of its long duration of action of more than 42 hours, which allows for flexible timing of administration from day to day without compromising efficacy and safety,” he said.

Dr Ernest Yorke, a leading Endocrinologist at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, said there were an estimated 0.5 million adults between age 20 to 70 years living with diabetes in Ghana as at 2017.

He said this was a huge economic burden for the individual, their family and the nation.

“What is even more worrying is that disease awareness is still low; six out of ten Ghanaians do not know that they have diabetes. The IDF estimated 9,800 deaths due to diabetes related causes in 2017 in Ghana”.

With the introduction of insulin degludec in Ghana, the clinicians now have an innovative product to make a meaningful contribution in the drive to ‘change diabetes’ in Ghana”, he said.

Professor Roger Lehmann, Director Diabetology and Islet Transplantation Programme, Department for Endocrinology, Diabetes and Clinical Nutrition, University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland, also noted that “maintaining good blood glucose control with insulin treatment can be challenging for healthcare professionals and patients due to concerns over hypoglycaemia”.

“Insulin degludec has been shown to provide low variability in blood glucose which is associated with a lower risk of severe hypoglycaemia”.

“In the cardiovascular outcomes trial, DEVOTE, insulin degludec did not increase the risk of major cardiovascular events, while significantly reduced the rates of nocturnal severe, and severe hypoglycaemia by 53 per cent and 40 per cent respectively, compared with insulin glargine U100, in adults with type two diabetes”, he stated.

Mr Vinay Ransiwal, General Manager, Middle Africa, Novo Nordisk also stated that the company was keen on providing the best healthcare and treatment to people with diabetes.

He said through its strategic partnership with relevant stakeholders in the health sector, it was educating patients, training healthcare professionals and strengthening healthcare systems.

“We are firmly committed to working towards alleviating the burden of diabetes and supporting people with diabetes to live a healthy life”, he said.

GNA

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