New drug for type 2 diabetes to be offered

Innogen, a Shanghai-based medical technology company, announced that its independently developed, human-derived, ultra-long-acting GLP-1 injection has been approved for market by China's National Medical Products Administration for the treatment of type 2 diabetes in adults.

The once-weekly injection — expected to be prescribed at a hospital in Shanghai starting next week — lowers blood sugar levels and improves metabolic function in diabetic patients.

Ongoing clinical trials have also shown promising weight-loss effects, the company said on Saturday.

The approval makes Innogen the first company in Asia and the third globally to hold independent intellectual property rights for a human-derived, long-acting GLP-1 receptor against diabetes. The company is positioning the drug as a competitor to imported treatments such as Novo Nordisk's semaglutide and Eli Lilly's tirzepatide.

Globally, there are at least 10 GLP-1 drugs for type 2 diabetes on the market. Of them, only three are human-derived and ultra-long-acting injections, including one from Eli Lilly and two from Novo Nordisk.

"Our innovative injection boasts an average half-life of up to 204 hours in the human body, making it the longest-lasting GLP-1 drug on the global market," said Wang Qinghua, founder and CEO of Innogen.

"With this homegrown medicine, healthcare workers will be better equipped to help type 2 diabetes patients manage their blood sugar and weight, ushering in a new era of metabolic health," said Jia Weiping, an academician with the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a professor at Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital Affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine.

The first prescription of the newly approved drug is expected at the hospital this week.

China has the world's largest diabetes population, with an estimated 148 million adult patients. More than 60 percent are overweight or obese. According to national figures released in 2020, 34.3 percent of Chinese adults were overweight, while 16.4 percent were obese, increasing their risk of conditions such as diabetes and hypertension.

Medical experts explain that GLP-1 is a hormone produced in the gut that signals satiety to the brain, delaying gastric emptying and reducing hunger. It also helps decrease visceral fat and improve the fat-burning effect of exercise. GLP-1 drugs raise the concentration of active GLP-1 in the bloodstream, promoting appetite control and fat reduction.

Originally developed for type 2 diabetes, GLP-1 therapies have gained global popularity for their weight-loss benefits. In China, four GLP-1 drugs — two imported and two domestic — have been approved for weight management.

British bank Barclays projects the global weight-loss therapy market will reach $150 billion by 2030. US consultancy Frost & Sullivan forecasts China's GLP-1 market will exceed 50 billion yuan ($6.84 billion) by then.

Wang, who has researched GLP-1 receptor agonists for over two decades, said clinical trial data showed that in non-diabetic individuals, four weeks of use resulted in an average weight loss of 4 kilograms, a 6.2 percent reduction. About 71 percent of participants lost more than 5 percent of their body weight.

Innogen plans to launch a phase II clinical trial for type 2 diabetes in Australia and a phase I study for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in the United States.