Novo Nordisk brings once-a-week diabetes treatment injection 'Awiqli' in India

New Delhi, Jul 9 (PTI) Danish pharma major Novo Nordisk on Thursday launched in India its once-weekly basal insulin injection, 'Awiqli' indicated for treatment of diabetes in adults. The company is introducing Awiqli in two pen representations of 700 units and 2,100 units, with per unit cost of Rs 3.73, Novo Nordisk India Managing Director, Vikrant Shrotriya told PTI. "It is a modern therapy, and we (India) are the seventh country to launch (the injection)," he added. Explaining the advantages of Awiqli, Shrotriya said in usual therapies patients with diabetes normally will have to take insulin injection every day, which leads to people actually denying insulin as "they think that they have to take every day and they have to take lifelong". So, the once-a-week injection for Awiqli "reduces one of the barriers by which people actually deny insulin", he asserted. When patients get the convenience of once-a-week, and also they get a control which is actually a little better than the currently available, basal insulin, it takes away the barrier, Shrotriya said, adding "that's what medicine try to do -- either being more effective or more convenience". He said Awiqli will be available across India through the company's 4,500 distributors. The company said Awiqli will transform the insulin regimen for people with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes mellitus from a once-daily routine to a once-weekly injection, thereby reducing the annual injection burden from 365 to just 52. Shrotriya said for more than a century, Novo Nordisk has pursued one ambition - to make insulin therapy simpler, safer and more accessible for patients. "Once-weekly dosing has long been an aspiration in our field. Today, it is a reality for India." Shrotriya further said, "We believe Awiqli will reduce the psychological and physical barriers to insulin initiation , and ultimately help more people achieve better control and a better quality of life." Stating that India is at the epicentre of the global diabetes epidemic, the company said, "The scale of the problem , and the barriers to managing it ” make Awiqli's arrival particularly timely." Over 101 million people in India live with diabetes - one of the highest burdens globally, it added. Last year in December, the company had launched its blockbuster type 2 diabetes treatment injection Ozempic, globally popular for its weight-loss benefits. PTI RKL ANU ANU