Staff Correspondent

Healthcare Pharmaceuticals Limited yesterday launched a new drug in the country designed to improve blood sugar control in adults with type-2 diabetes.

Trulicity, a once-a-week injectable medication produced by US-based Eli Lilly and Company, will be available in 0.75mg and 1.5mg doses and can be administered at any time of the day, said a press release.

It is a prescription drug that should be taken only on advice from registered physicians who treat diabetic patients. When prescribed, it should be used as an adjunct to diet and exercise, added the release.

It will be available at pharmacies in four-pen package for a month’s use at Tk 13,500. However, patients will be able to purchase a single-pen dose for the time being, Shek Sady Khan, medical manager at HPL, told this newspaper by phone. It is first of its kind in Bangladesh, he added.

Type-2 diabetes is a progressive disease and, in Bangladesh, many patients do not meet their treatment goals, said Prof AK Azad Khan, president of Diabetic Association of Bangladesh.

“Trulicity is non-insulin and injectable,” he said.