AstraZeneca, a global, innovation-driven biopharmaceutical business, and Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, a global biopharmaceutical company,  announced that the US Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee (EMDAC) has voted 13-1 that the benefits of dapagliflozin use outweigh identified risks and support marketing of dapagliflozin as an adjunct to diet and exercise to improve glycaemic control in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

The Advisory Committee also voted 10-4 that the data provided sufficient evidence that dapagliflozin, relative to comparators, has an acceptable cardiovascular risk profile.

The FDA is not bound by the Advisory Committee’s recommendation but takes its advice into consideration when reviewing the application for an investigational agent. The Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) goal date for dapagliflozin is January 11, 2014.

Dapagliflozin is being reviewed by the FDA for use as monotherapy, and in combination with other antidiabetic agents, as an adjunct to diet and exercise to improve glycaemic control in adults with type 2 diabetes. It is a selective and reversible inhibitor of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) that works independently of insulin to help remove excess glucose from the body. Dapagliflozin, an investigational compound in the US, was the first SGLT2 inhibitor to be approved anywhere in the world. Dapagliflozin is currently approved under the trade name FORXIGA for the treatment of adults with type 2 diabetes, along with diet and exercise, in 38 countries, including the European Union and Australia.

The EMDAC was provided with data from the extensive dapagliflozin global clinical development programme included as part of the New Drug Application (NDA) and resubmission. In response to the FDA’s January 2012 complete response letter, the NDA resubmission included several new studies and additional long-term data (up to four years’ duration) from previously submitted studies, resulting in an overall increase in patient-years exposure to dapagliflozin of more than 50 per cent as compared to exposure in the original NDA. The resubmission included data from the dapagliflozin phase II/III clinical development programme, which included more than 11,000 adult patients with diabetes (approximately 6,000 patients received dapagliflozin) in 24 clinical trials.

Patient populations examined covered the range of diabetes progression, including drug-naïve patients, patients inadequately controlled on oral therapies and patients on insulin-based regimens. The programme also provided significant experience in elderly patients, patients with a history of cardiovascular (CV) disease, overweight and obese patients, patients with poorly controlled hypertension and patients with mild to moderate renal impairment. In accordance with FDA guidelines, the NDA resubmission also included data assessing the CV safety of dapagliflozin in adults with type 2 diabetes. Additionally, the DECLARE study is being conducted in patients with type 2 diabetes to determine the effect of dapagliflozin, when added to the patients’ current anti-diabetes therapy, on the risk of CV events, such as CV death, myocardial infarction or ischaemic stroke, compared with placebo. The randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of more than 17,000 patients initiated enrolment in April 2013 and has an anticipated completion date of 2019.

The kidney plays an important role in maintaining normal glucose balance, in part by filtering and subsequently reabsorbing glucose back into circulation. SGLT2, a sodium-glucose cotransporter found predominantly in the kidney, is responsible for the majority of glucose reabsorption in the kidneys. In patients with type 2 diabetes, the capacity of the kidney to reabsorb glucose is increased by approximately 20-30 per cent, further exacerbating the hyperglycaemia associated with the disease. Selective inhibition of SGLT2 reduces the reabsorption of excess glucose and enables its removal via the urine.

Dedicated to addressing the global burden of diabetes by advancing individualised patient care, AstraZeneca and Bristol-Myers Squibb are working in collaboration to develop and commercialise a versatile portfolio of innovative treatment options for diabetes and related metabolic disorders that aim to provide treatment effects beyond glucose control.

AstraZeneca is focussed on the discovery, development and commercialisation of prescription medicines, primarily for the treatment of cardiovascular, metabolic, respiratory, inflammation, autoimmune, oncology, infection and neuroscience diseases.

Bristol-Myers Squibb aims to discover, develop and deliver innovative medicines that help patients prevail over serious diseases.