Bristol-Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca Purchase Amylin
In June, pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) and its partner AstraZeneca (AZ) acquired the important biotech company Amylin for a cool $7 billion, which we believe will be good news for people with diabetes. Amylin manufactures two of the three currently available GLP-1 agonists – the twice-daily Byetta (exenatide) and the once-weekly Bydureon (exenatide once weekly) – as well as the type 1 and type 2 diabetes therapy Symlin (pramlintide). Besides these products, Amylin is developing a pen device for Bydureon that is expected to be easier to administer than the current version (approval expected in 2013), a once-monthly GLP-1 agonist (exenatide once-monthly) expected to enter phase 3 studies next year, and a new “dual-peptide” therapy for type 2 diabetes that remains in initial trials. The once-monthly is the part of Amylin that struck us as truly exceptional, although GLP-1, the main focus of the company, has also clearly begun to transform diabetes treatment for type 2 (and perhaps type 1, as we noted in our test drive in diaTribe #26).
Through their acquisition of Amylin, BMS and AZ will substantially strengthen their product offerings for type 2 patients. The companies already have one DPP-4 inhibitor on the market Onglyza (saxagliptin) and are trying to secure FDA approval for their SGLT-2 inhibitor, dapagliflozin. Now with Byetta and Bydureon, BMS and AZ become the only companies with approved products in two (and eventually perhaps all three) of the new major drug classes (GLP-1 agonists, DPP-4 inhibitors, and SGLT-2 inhibitors), providing more options to patients with varying treatment needs. The opportunity to provide a variety of treatments (either alone or in combination) will be especially important as doctors continue to focus more on personalized treatment regimens for each patient based on his or her medical profile, history of diabetes, and lifestyle – a strategy that was recently supported in a position statement from the American Diabetes Association and European Association for the Study of Diabetes.
With substantially more financial resources than Amylin, we hope to see BMS and AZ work to continually expand access to GLP-1 agonists to more patients and providers as well as speed improvements in this exciting drug class in the coming years. We expect that BMS/AZ/Amylin’s combined sales forces will be capable of educating even more healthcare providers about the benefits of GLP-1 agonists (strong improvements in blood glucose, weight loss, low risk for hypoglycemia, possible protective effects on the cardiovascular system) – AZ, especially, has significant experience with primary care providers. In the coming weeks, we hope to hear more about BMS and AZ’s plans for Amylin’s products as the companies provide updates about their overall business strategies. We’ll keep you posted! –NR/EC/BK
