AstraZeneca today announced that the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) approved FORXIGA® (dapagliflozin in 5 and 10 mg tablets), a sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor, as an once-daily oral treatment for Type 2 diabetes. The FORXIGA application was submitted to the MHLW by Bristol-Myers Squibb K.K.. AstraZeneca and Ono Pharmaceutical entered into an agreement to co-promote FORXIGA on December 3, 2013.

FORXIGA is a highly selective and reversible inhibitor of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 that works independently of insulin to help remove excess glucose from the body. Currently approved in more than 40 countries globally, FORXIGA was the first SGLT2 inhibitor in gain regulatory approval to treat Type 2 diabetes, gaining approval in Europe in November 2012, according to AstraZeneca. It was approved by FDA for the treatment of adults with Type 2 diabetes in January 2014,

Source: AstraZeneca