(Yicai) June 25 -- Danish insulin and weight loss drug manufacturer Novo Nordisk has received the regulatory approval to sell the world’s first weekly insulin icodec injection in China.

The National Medical Products Administration yesterday approved the marketing of Novo Nordisk’s Awiqli for the treatment of type-2 diabetes in adults in China.

Awiqli was the first drug ever to simultaneously carry out clinical trials and submit marketing applications in China, the United States, and the European Union. Chinese regulator approved the drug before the US Food and Drug Administration.

Novo Nordisk has attracted much attention in recent years for its glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist Semaglutide. GLP-1 is a polypeptide hormone released by the intestine after eating. It can stimulate islet beta cells to secrete insulin and get involved in the regulation of blood sugar balance in the body.

The GLP-1 receptor agonist and insulin target different patients, but combining the two improves some pathologies in patients with type-2 diabetes, forming an effective treatment, Mu Yiming, head of Awiqli’s Chinese clinical trials, told Yicai.

IcoSema, a new combination of insulin icodec and Semaglutide expected to bring more therapeutic choices for diabetes patients, is under international, multicenter, Phase III clinical trials, Yicai learned. IcoSema has been already approved for clinical trials in China.

Novo Nordisk’s Awiqli faces fierce market competition. Weekly insulin efsitora was proven by two studies to have similar effects to daily-basis insulin in reducing blood glucose in patients with type-2 diabetes, US pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly said last month.

Novo Nordisk announced today that the NMPA gave the marketing approval to the company’s Semaglutide injection for chronic weight management in China. The popular long-term weight loss drug claims to help cut body weight by 17 percent, or an average of 16.8 kilograms

Editor: Futura Costaglione