Drugmakers Pitch Meds In The Works For Diabetes

LINDA A. JOHNSON

TRENTON, New Jersey (AP) — Major pharmaceutical companies are fighting harder over the millions of patients with diabetes, a lucrative area because the pool of customers keeps growing with the obesity epidemic — and they will need daily drugs or insulin for life.

As the American Diabetes Association conference opened Friday, companies began presenting research on experimental drugs, including a few in a new class, and data on existing drugs for which they hope to capture many more customers.

Meanwhile, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc. has jumped into the diabetes field and will be reporting on two experimental drugs and its diabetes pipeline.

"Why wouldn't you get in?" said Miller Tabak analyst Les Funtleyder. "It's a big market, it's a chronic market and there's unmet need."

More than 230 million people worldwide are estimated to have diabetes — nearly an eightfold jump since 1985 — and nearly 4 million died of the blood sugar disorder in 2007, according to the World Diabetes Foundation.

Up to half of patients can't keep their blood sugar levels at their goal with their current medicines, diet and exercise. That increases risk of complications including blindness, amputations and kidney damage.