Eli Lilly launches once-a-week diabetes drug, Trulicity in India

New Delhi: In a move to enhance its diabetes portfolio in India, US pharma major Eli Lilly has launched once-a-week diabetes treatment drug under the brand name 'Trulicity', at Rs 2,499 in the country.

The company has launched the product after receiving the regulatory approval for the same in India.

"We are pleased to be introducing Trulicity, first, once-a-week diabetes medicine, in India. We have been committed to diabetes for more than 90 years. We are bringing a new medication to India with a proven efficacy," Eli Lilly India Managing Director Edgard Olaizola told PTI.

"The medicine is an injectable medication and belongs to a class called GLP-1 receptor agonists. It is not a insulin," he added.

Trulicity comes in a single-dose pen and is designed to improve the blood sugar control in adults with Type 2 diabetes.

"India is the third country after Japan and the UAE in Asia and it (Trulicity) is already available in the US and Europe. This complements our diabetes portfolio in India," Olaizola said.

For Eli Lilly, diabetes is the biggest segment with "about 85 per cent of our sales in India coming from diabetes and we are growing double digit and growing our market share," he added.

After diabetes, the other important segment is oncology. The others are osteoporosis and human growth hormone, he added.

The company is also looking to introduce another medication in oncology.

"We are working to bring an oncology product to India and we are working with regulatory agencies for this," Olaizola said.

The company expects to introduce the product by next year, he added.

Eli Lilly sells a range of medicines and drug delivery devices in the diabetes segment. In 2014, it had introduced Savvio, an insulin delivery device in India.