Novo Nordisk lämnar in ansökan för nytt läkemedel

Novo Nordisk är ett danskt multinationellt läkemedelsföretag, andra största i sin bransch och ett av nordens största bolag. Det är världsledande inom diabetes, bioteknik och biomedicin. Företaget skapades 1989 genom fusion mellan de två danska företagen Nordisk Gentofte A/S (grundat 1923) och Novo Industri A/S. Företaget producerar och marknadsför läkemedel, kanske främst kända är produkter rörande diabetes (t.ex. Tresiba), hemofili och hormoner. I företagets logotyp ingår guden Apis från forntida Egypten.

Insulin aspart is a fast-acting insulin analog marketed by Novo Nordisk as NovoLog/NovoRapid. It is a manufactured form of human insulin; where a single amino acid has been exchanged. This change helps the fast-acting insulin analog be absorbed quickly into the bloodstream. As a result, it starts working in minutes, which allows one to take insulin and eat right away. Fast-acting insulin analogs are considered to act similarly to the way insulin is released in people without diabetes mellitus. Novolog allows for a flexible dosing schedule, which allows patients to adjust their insulin according to any changes in their eating habits. The safety and efficacy of insulin aspart (NovoLog/NovoRapid) in real-life clinical practice was evaluated in the A1chieve study. It was created through recombinant DNA technology so that the amino acid, B28, which is normally proline, is substituted with an aspartic acid residue. This analog has increased charge repulsion, which prevents the formation of hexamers, to create a faster-acting insulin. The sequence was inserted into the yeast genome, and the yeast expressed the insulin analog, which was then harvested from a bioreactor. According to JDRF, insulin aspart was approved for marketing in the United States by the Food and Drug Administration in June 2000.