Glaxo will look at Avandia, DPP-4 combination

NEW YORK (Reuters) - GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) will study combining its diabetes drug Avandia with a new class of DPP-4 medicines but does not believe its established drug is under threat, its chief executive said on Wednesday.

Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) won U.S. approval last month for Januvia, the first dipeptidyl peptidase IV, or DPP-4, inhibitor and Novartis AG (NOVN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) expects to get a green light for its rival product Galvus within the next few weeks.

"Is it is medically smart to combine Avandia with a DDP-4? There will be a segment of the population where that makes sense and we will attempt to explore it in that context," Jean-Pierre Garnier told the Reuters Health Summit in New York via a telephone interview from London.

Glaxo two weeks ago reported poor clinical trial results with its own DPP-4 medicine Redona, which was still at a relatively early stage of development, and analysts have speculated it may soon try to license rights to an outside firm's DPP-4.

DPP-4 drugs avoid the side effects of water retention and weight gain associated with drugs like Avandia and are seen by some industry analysts as a threat to Glaxo's key diabetes business.

But Garnier argued Avandia was still extremely effective at controlling blood sugar levels and predicted the biggest losers would be old medicines like metformin and sulfonylurea.

"I think the products that are gradually going to slow down and lose out are the older medications that still represent today roughly 60 percent of the units sold in this market," he said.

Avandia is Glaxo's second biggest selling product, with sales of 1.3 billion pounds ($2.48 billion) last year.