Dive Brief:
- Now that Jardiance (empagliflozin) from Lilly/Boehringer Ingelheim has been clinically proven to reduce cardiovascular (CV) events and related deaths, Johnson & Johnson expects the same for Invokana (canagliflozin).
- A phase 3 CV safety study showed that Jardiance reduced the risk of all-risk mortality by 32%, while also reducing the risk of certain CV events.
- J&J expects to complete its CV safety study by 2017.
Dive Insight:
When Invokana, a type 2 diabetes drug, was approved in March 2013, it became the first FA-approved SGLT2 inhibitor. Its sales have steadily increased with Q2 2015 sales of $340 million, up two-fold over Q2 2014.
Analysts have long pegged Invokana as the frontrunner in this class, though the latest CV safety data from Lilly/BI may put Jardiance in the front, followed by Invokana and AstraZeneca's Farxiga (dapgliflozin).
Although it's easy to extrapolate benefits—or risks—from one drug to another in the same class, each molecule is unique, and until the test results are in, J&J has to rely on the data it has on Invokana, which is proven effective in reducing blood glucose (with some weight loss benefits).