Intarcia Therapeutics's Diabetes Pump Shown to be More Effective than Merck's Januvia

A new trial revealed that Intarcia Therapeutics’ diabetes pump lowers blood glucose levels and weight more than Merck’s (NYSE:MRK) bestselling drug Januvia.
According to Bloomberg Business:

Intarcia’s pump is implanted under the skin for up to a year and continuously delivers a diabetes drug known as a GLP-1 receptor agonist. The pump reduced a measure of blood glucose by 1.5 percentage points, compared with 0.8 percentage point for Januvia, in a yearlong study of 535 patients, the company said Tuesday in a statement. The device also led to an average weight loss of 4 kilograms (9 pounds), compared with a loss of 1.3 kilograms in the patients taking Januvia.
Intarcia, a closely held company backed by venture-capital firms including New Enterprise Associates Inc. and Venrock, is seeking to challenge the crowded field of type 2 diabetes treatments with its device, called ITCA 650.
[…] Intarcia, based in Boston, stands out in the biotech field because it hasn’t gone public or formed an alliance with a large pharmaceutical company, even though it has run four final-stage trials covering 5,000 patients.

Click here to read the full article on Bloomberg Business.