Diabetes drug losing momentum

According to recent diabetes news reports, pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly need to take strong action to revive the fortunes of diabetes drug Byetta . Byetta has now been on the market for four years, and although initially hailed as a wonder-drug to help diabetes patients better control blood sugar whilst also suppressing the appetite and leading to weight loss, sales have ebbed.
Byetta became so popular that Eli Lilly ran low of cartridges, leading to predictions that it would become a blockbuster drug – earning more than $1 billion in annual sales. However, the diabetes drug has suffered due to concerns over complications such as pancreatitis, not to mention competitions from other products.
The Food and Drug Administration claimed last year that two diabetes patients taking Byetta had been hospitalised following pancreatic inflammation. Now, with the number of Byetta prescriptions falling monthly, Lilly face a challenge to reinvigorate sales of the drug.