Novo sees advantages vs Byetta LAR

By Bill Berkrot

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Novo Nordisk A/S (NOVOb.CO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Thursday it believes its experimental type 2 diabetes treatment will be as effective as the Eli Lilly and Co (LLY.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) drug expected to be its main rival and may have advantages that will win over patients.

The Danish drugmaker is considering boosting its already large U.S. sales force to leverage a potential one-year head start that its drug, liraglutide, may have over the long-acting version of Lilly's Byetta, Novo's finance chief, Jesper Brandgaard, said at the Reuters Health Summit in New York.

The added sales muscle would also expand Novo's ability to promote the drug to general practitioners, Brandgaard said.

Based on available data, Wall Street analysts believe liraglutide has a clear advantage over the version of Byetta already on the market. How it will measure up against the long-acting version is the biggest question mark hanging over Novo's closely watched drug.

"We believe that the efficacy that you will see with Byetta LAR and from liraglutide are likely to be similar," Brandgaard said.

And the perceived advantage of once a week dosing with Byetta LAR versus daily injections with liraglutide may not be the competitive edge it appears, he said.

"Intuitively you think, that's convenience, once a week compared to daily," Brandgaard said.

But he said it may be easier from a patient compliance standpoint to inject the drug at the same time every day compared to remembering to take it once a week.  Continued...