A woman who suffers from diabetes gives herself an insulin injection. (Photo by pexels.com)
A once-a-week insulin injection will be available in Canada starting this month, making the country the first in the world to launch the new adult diabetes medication.
Insulin icodec, sold under the brand name Awiqli, will be available across the country beginning June 30, drug manufacturer Novo Nordisk announced this week.
The product was approved by Health Canada in March for the treatment of adults with either Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes.
“By transitioning from daily basal insulin injections to just one per week, Awiqli’s convenience ultimately provides the choice for potentially more patients living with diabetes in need of basal insulin to better manage their condition,” said Dr. Alexander Abitbol, an endocrinologist at LMC, a publicly-funded diabetes and endocrinology specialty clinic with locations in both southern Ontario and Calgary.
He described the launch in a June 17 press release as a “pivotal moment” in more than 100 years of diabetes care.
One of the biggest benefits of Awiqli is that patients who need insulin are more likely to take it if it’s a once-a-week commitment, Dr. Abitbol said. And that means they will be better protected from complications that arise when the disease is not properly treated.
“The impact for patients is that less of them will be left with high blood sugar for longer,” he said, adding that high blood sugar contributes to heart and kidney disease as well as eye and nerve issues.
Dr. Abitbol, who was an investigator in the clinical trial involving Type 1 diabetes patients, said he would mostly prescribe Awiqli for Type 2 patients, but added that it could still be a good option for Type 1 diabetics who are lax in taking their shots.
Patients with Type 1 diabetes still require additional fast-acting insulin injections at mealtimes each day because their bodies don’t produce insulin on their own. Those with Type 2 diabetes are able to produce insulin, but their bodies either don’t use it properly or don’t make enough of it.
Awiqli, which acts as a time-release medication, will help with that production, distributing insulin over the course of the week, Dr. Abitbol said.
Awiqli will cost more than $1,000 per year per patient, according to Canada’s Drug Agency, which assesses drugs and recommends whether they should qualify for reimbursement.
The agency is recommending the drug be funded by government health insurance plans for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes, but with the condition that the price be lowered to match the least costly of the more frequent insulin injections.
Awiqli manufacturer Novo Nordisk is currently “working through the process to achieve public coverage” for the injections, a company spokesperson told The Epoch Times via email.
The drug manufacturer is also “seeing positive early signals that private drug plans see the value Awiqli provides patients living with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes,” the spokesperson said.
Novo Nordisk said its new insulin product will be “priced on par per unit” with another basal insulin it produces.