FILE PHOTO: The logo of Danish multinational pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk is pictured on the facade of a production plant in Chartres, north-central France, April 21, 2016. REUTERS/Guillaume Souvant
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Novo Nordisk has submitted its oral semaglutide drug, a pill it hopes will transform the diabetes market, for U.S. approval.
The Danish drugmaker said on Wednesday it had used a so-called priority review voucher to speed up the anticipated review time of the drug to six months.
The once-daily pill, a key growth hope for the company, belongs to a blockbuster class of treatments known as GLP-1s that stimulate insulin production.
So far, all have been injections and a pill would offer a step-change to overcome the aversion many diabetics have to injections.
Novo Nordisk hopes to launch the pill in 2020.
Reporting by Stine Jacobsen; Editing by Kirsten Donovan