No­vo Nordisk’s 'se­ma' whips Mer­ck’s di­a­betes drug ri­val in PhI­II as it reach­es for best-in-class rank­ing for GLP-1 group

No­vo Nordisk keeps rack­ing up stel­lar re­sults from its late-stage slate of tri­als test­ing the full po­ten­tial of oral semaglu­tide in treat­ing di­a­betes. And the work is draw­ing some wide-rang­ing ap­plause from an­a­lysts who be­lieve the Dan­ish biotech is on a clear course to mega-block­buster sta­tus, at the ex­pense of its ri­vals.

The re­sults to­day are from Pi­o­neer 4 and 7, demon­strat­ing su­pe­ri­or­i­ty over its own Vic­toza as well as Mer­ck’s Janu­via. As for the in­jectable GLP-1 Vic­toza, there was a match on blood sug­ar and a beat on weight loss, which will tip the scales in its fa­vor. As for Janu­via, oral se­ma beat it on both scores, giv­ing No­vo the win across the board.

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