Last week there was a lot of press about the approval of Victoza (c) liraglutide, the once-a-day GLP-1 mimetic, made by Novo Nordisk. This drug, which works like exenatide, gives practitioners another choice of therapy for patients. If you read all the articles on the internet you will find a lot of different opinions and ideas on what this new therapy option means for patients. There are those who think that once a day dosing means increased compliance. Then I read about 10 articles from writers who think prescribers won’t use the medication because of the black box warning on thyroid cancer. In addition some articles point to the decreased chance of nausea from liraglutide because of the increased homology of the drug to the natural hormone GLP-1. After reading all these studies and articles I wondered how Novo would approach the marketing of Victoza (c). Searching through articles from some of our sources I was able to discover how they were planning to market the medication to clinicians and patients. To learn what to expect when the Novo Rep comes calling on you "Novo reps to spotlight weight loss for Victoza launch."

Announcements:

The TCOYD team will be in Sacramento, California, at the Sacramento Convention Center for the TCOYD Conference and Health Fair, February 27. TCOYD is a not for profit organization dedicated to informing and empowering people with diabetes to become actively involved in their own health care. For more 2010 upcoming conference details, please go to TCOYD.org.

CE/CDE Programs

We now have 49 CE/CDE programs on diabetes, accredited for Nurses, Dietitians, Pharmacists, Physicians and Podiatrists: www.diabetesincontrol.com/cme

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Check out this week's "Test Your Diabetes Knowledge" question.

Dave Joffe, Editor-in-chief