Dallas, Texas 07/29/2013 (Financialstrend) – Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) closed in the previous trading session at $48.49 after going 0.66% (or +$0.32) in the northwards direction. The stock has hit day’s high at $48.49 and day’s low at $47.78.
Merck & Co., also known as MSD outside the Canada and United States, issued the following statement which involved the conclusion of the EMA’s (European Medicines Agency) CHMP (Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use) review of incretin based or GLP-1 based therapies, including sitagliptin. The European Medicines Agency issued a news release recently, which said that the investigation which was made into GLP-1 based diabetes therapies had concluded and on the basis of available evidence, No new concerns for GLP-1 therapies have been identified.
The Managing Director, chief medical officer and executive vice president, Merck, Michael Rosenblatt said that the company appreciates the important role that is played by European Medicines Agency and its Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use in monitoring the safety of medicines in Europe. He added that nothing is more important to the company other than ensuring the safety of their medicines and the people who take them. He further said that the company is confident in the safety profile of sitagliptin. Sitagliptin is an important medicine that will help adults with 2nd type diabetes to lower their levels of blood sugar.
The United States FDA (Food and Drug Administration) issued a Drug Safety Communication on the drugs that are based on incretin, including sitagliptin. The statement showed that Food and Drug Administration has not found out something new regarding safety risks with incretin mimetic drugs. In fact, the statement recommended that patients can continue to take their medicine until they talk to their doctor and that doctor continue to follow the task of prescribing recommendations in the drug labels.