Sanofi New Drug Application for Lixisenatide accepted for review by FDA

Sanofi (EURONEXT : SAN and NYSE : SNY) announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for review a New Drug Application (NDA) for lixisenatide, the first once-daily prandial GLP-1 receptor agonist for the treatment of adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus. The acceptance of the lixisenatide NDA filing follows the February 1, 2013, European Commission approval of lixisenatide in the European Union.

“We are very pleased to announce the FDA acceptance of our submission for lixisenatide in the U.S.,” said Pierre Chancel, Senior Vice President, Global Diabetes at Sanofi. “This important milestone is the result of our company’s continuing worldwide effort to meet the needs of people living with diabetes, and we look forward to working with the FDA during the review process.”

The NDA submission for lixisenatide is based on results from the GetGoal clinical program, which showed that lixisenatide demonstrated significant reductions in HbA1c, a pronounced post-prandial glucose (PPG)-lowering effect and a beneficial effect on body weight in adult patients with type 2 diabetes. GetGoal results also showed that lixisenatide had a favorable safety and tolerability profile in most patients, with mild and transient nausea and vomiting, the most common adverse events observed in the GLP-1 receptor agonist class, and a limited risk of hypoglycemia.

The international GetGoal program included 11 clinical trials involving more than 5,000 patients with type 2 diabetes,1 with a large number of patients studied to evaluate a GLP-1 receptor agonist in combination with basal insulin (1,250 patients treated with lixisenatide or placebo in three trials). The addition of lixisenatide to basal insulin was studied because these medicines target separate components of HbA1c, an important measure of blood glucose control. Lixisenatide has a pronounced PPG-lowering effect, which complements the predominantly fasting plasma glucose (FPG)-lowering effect of basal insulin. For patients treated with basal insulin who have controlled FPG but who, due to the progression of type 2 diabetes, are no longer able to achieve their HbA1c goal, adding lixisenatide, which targets PPG, could be an effective strategy to achieve target glucose control.

Available data from the ongoing ELIXA trial, a cardiovascular outcome (CV) study of lixisenatide in patients at high CV risk (i.e. patients who recently experienced an acute coronary event) were also submitted, as required by the FDA.

Sanofi is preparing to launch lixisenatide in the European Union as of late Q1 2013 under the proprietary name Lyxumia. The proprietary name for lixisenatide in the United States is under consideration.

About lixisenatide

Lixisenatide is a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA) for the treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. GLP-1 is a naturally-occurring peptide hormone that is released within minutes after eating a meal. It is known to suppress glucagon secretion from pancreatic alpha cells and stimulate glucose-dependent insulin secretion by pancreatic beta cells.

Lixisenatide was in-licensed from Zealand Pharma A/S (NASDAQ OMX Copenhagen: ZEAL), www.zealandpharma.com, and is approved in Europe for the treatment of adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus to achieve glycemic control in combination with oral glucose-lowering medicinal products and/or basal insulin when these, together with diet and exercise, do not provide adequate glycemic control. Lixisenatide is also approved in Mexico for the treatment of adults with type 2 diabetes.

About GetGoal

The 11 GetGoal clinical trials supporting the lixisenatide NDA filing studied the benefits and risks related to using lixisenatide as monotherapy, in combination with oral anti-diabetic medicines, in combination with basal insulin and versus twice-daily exenatide.

Monotherapy

GetGoal-Mono evaluated the efficacy, safety and tolerability of lixisenatide as monotherapy in comparison to placebo over 12 weeks of treatment.

GetGoal-Mono Japan evaluated the efficacy, safety and tolerability of lixisenatide as monotherapy in patients with type 2 diabetes in Japan over 76 weeks of treatment.

Add-on to oral anti-diabetic medicines

GetGoal-F1 evaluated the efficacy, safety and tolerability of lixisenatide in association with metformin in comparison to placebo over 24 weeks of treatment, followed by an extension period.

GetGoal-S evaluated the efficacy, safety and tolerability of lixisenatide in association with sulfonylurea with or without metformin in comparison to placebo over 24 weeks of treatment, followed by an extension period.

GetGoal-M evaluated the efficacy, safety and tolerability of lixisenatide in association with metformin in comparison to placebo over 24 weeks of treatment, followed by an extension period.

GetGoal-P evaluated the efficacy, safety and tolerability of lixisenatide in association with pioglitazone with or without metformin in comparison to placebo over 24 weeks of treatment, followed by an extension period.

GetGoal-M Asia assessed the effects of lixisenatide as an add-on treatment to metformin with or without sulfonylureas on glycemic control (in terms of HbA1c reduction) in comparison to placebo over 24 weeks of treatment.

Add-on to basal insulin

GetGoal-L Asia evaluated the efficacy, safety and tolerability of lixisenatide in association with basal insulin with or without sulfonylurea in comparison to placebo over 24 weeks of treatment.

GetGoal-L evaluated the efficacy, safety and tolerability of lixisenatide in association with basal insulin with or without metformin in comparison to placebo over 24 weeks of treatment, followed by an extension period.

GetGoal-Duo1 assessed the effects of lixisenatide as an add-on treatment to insulin glargine and metformin on glycemic control in comparison to placebo over 24 weeks of treatment.

Versus twice-daily exenatide

GetGoal-X compared the efficacy, safety and tolerability of lixisenatide versus twice-daily exenatide in association with metformin over 24 weeks of treatment, followed by an extension period.