Intarcia's ITCA 650 drug pump beats Januvia in head-to-head trial

Discussion in 'Merck' started by anonymous, Aug 18, 2015 at 10:03 PM.

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  1. anonymous

    anonymous Guest

    Boston firm’s diabetes treatment beats $6B Merck drug in head-to-head trial

    A Boston company says that a trial of 535 patients with type 2 diabetes showed its tiny drug pump worked better in a head-to-head comparison with the leading once-a-day pill for the disease, Januvia, which generated more than $6 billion in revenue last year.

    Intarcia, a privately-held firm based in the Seaport District, said the trial showed patients who had its tiny ITCA 650 implanted under their skin saw double the reduction in a type of hemoglobin tied to the disease after one year than patients taking Januvia, by Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK). Intarica’s device also brought about four times the weight loss in patients — about nine pounds in a year versus two pounds.

    http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/blog/bioflash/2015/08/boston-firm-s-diabetes-treatment-beats-6b-drug-by.html
     

  2. anonymous

    anonymous Guest

    Can someone say COMPLIANCE! It only makes sense that an implantable device would have better results than a pill. Highly down this implantable device will be preferred by insurance companies over a pill. Not worried about Intarcia, at all.
     
  3. anonymous

    anonymous Guest

    Looks good at this early stage but how often have we seen these things fizzle out. Let's not panic and wait to see more trials and also safety and tolerability. If it pans out will be a huge deal for patients and a bad deal for all other pills...but let's wait and see.
     
  4. anonymous

    anonymous Guest

    comparing to Januvia is like comparing to placebo.
     
  5. anonymous

    anonymous Guest

    this is a game changer and this technology could impact multiple diseases going forward. If the value to an insurer is on par with daily dosing and the risk of poor compliance, the implant will will or have parity
     
  6. anonymous

    anonymous Guest

    The actual drug is exenetide...been on the market for a long time, so safety profile is very well known.
     
  7. anonymous

    anonymous Guest

    This device is going to blow all pills away! Intarcia's CEO is a marketing guru and by the way, the mastermind behind Prilosec and Nexium!!
     
  8. anonymous

    anonymous Guest

    Yeah, you have plenty of other things to worry about. Like job searching, for example.
     
  9. anonymous

    anonymous Guest

    Kurt is indeed a marketing guru but the big if is if he has something to peddle.

    Their implant has nasty nausea side effect common to exenatide and 10k question is pricing and to what extent the implant and its surgical procedure will be paid by the insurance companies. Many of the competing exenatide daily/weekly injections like Victoza/Byetta/Bydureon are off of formulary. And there will be people who prefer weekly injection over implant that requires minor surgery - not for everyone.
     
  10. anonymous

    anonymous Guest

    I have not had a head to head in quite awhile!
     
  11. anonymous

    anonymous Guest


    LOL - if you bozos can pass PAI but who will be the fall guy for Kurt the CEO and his cronies? Take your pick - Hayward plant in front of concrete recycler with on-going micro contaminations, DS CMO AKA Chinese sweat shop CS Bio with the CALOSHA, fire dept and FDA after them and pill packing house Safecor who failed sterilization validation TWICE and taken out/removed from lame NDA.

    Add to this Kurt touting 1-yr implant that does NOT exist on CNBC hosted by bozo Cramer.

    And get this the Achilles heel - 1st year the patient needs THREE implants (3, 6 then 9 months), 3 placement kits, 3 insertion and 2 removal SURGERIES in the tunes of $20 to $30k! And biggest concern is well known (but hidden) and documented nausea side effect? So who will pay if the patient wants the damn implant removed due to nasty nausea?
     
  12. anonymous

    anonymous Guest


    Thank you Kurt!!!
     
  13. anonymous

    anonymous Guest

    Thats right skin-flint. There's a reason they call it placubia. I love it. Merck going down with its main dog