LG Chem is likely to develop an antidiabetic drug that combines DPP-4 (dipeptidyl peptidase-4) inhibitor Zemiglo and sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitor.
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety on Thursday approved LG Chem’s plan for a phase-1 clinical trial to evaluate drug interactions between Zemiglo and dapagliflozin or Zemiglo and empagliflozin. The study will involve 48 patients at Samsung Medical Center.
Zemiglo |
AstraZeneca sells dapagliflozin under the trade name of Forxiga, and Boehringer Ingelheim, empagliflozin, under the name Jardiance. The two drugs are SGLT-2 inhibitors.
Physicians can prescribe the two drugs as a single therapy, or combine each with other treatments such as metformin, metformin+pioglitazone, metformin+sulfonylurea, insulin, insulin+metformin, insulin+metformin+ sulfonylurea, and DPP-4 inhibitor.
However, the combinations of SGLT-2 inhibitors with DPP-4 inhibitors are limited. Forxiga can be combined with Januvia and Jardiance with Trajenta.
Although the two SGLT-2 inhibitors cannot be combined with all DPP-4 inhibitors, LG Chem might be seeking to develop a combo of a DPP-4 inhibitor and an SGLT-2 inhibitor, observers said.
Recently, LG Chem has been concentrating on expanding lineups of Zemiglo combo drugs. After releasing a Zemiglo and metformin combo Gemimet, the company last year launched Zemiro, which merged a DPP-4 inhibitor with lipid reduction drug rosuvastatin.
It was the first time that such combination drug was released in the Korean market.
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