Experimental drug, saxagliptin from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and AstraZeneca proved efficient in controlling blood sugar in diabetes patients without having serious side effects, according to data presented on Saturday at the 68th American Diabetes Association Annual Scientific Sessions in San Francisco.

Diabetes is  caused by the body’s inability to use or produce the hormone insulin. The disease can lead to heart disease, kidney failure, blindness and amputations, being the sixth-leading cause of death in the U.S. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 21 million Americans have diabetes, most patients having Type 2 diabetes which occurs mainly in adults age 40 and older who are overweight.

The data presented at the meeting were results of a 24-week study of 401 people with type 2 diabetes previously untreated or whose A1C level was greater or equal to 7 percent and less than or equal to 10 percent. A1C level is a measurement of blood-glucose level in diabetes patients. The American Diabetes Association recommends A1C levels of 7 percent. 

The participants were randomized to receive saxagliptin in either a 2.5 mg dose, a 5 mg dose, a 10 mg dose or a placebo.

The study showed that 41 percent of patients taking 10 mg of saxagliptin reached A1C level of 7 percent, as did 38 percent at 5 mg and 35 percent at 2.5 mg, compared with 24 percent in the placebo group.

Dr. Roland Chen, group director at Bristol-Myers Squibb global clinical research, who presented the study at the meeting, said the company’s officials were “pretty excited” about the study’s results. “Specifically saxagliptin here as monotherapy in this treatment naive patient population led to clinically meaningful results in all key glycemic control parameters,” he said, as quoted by Reuters.

Both Bristol Myers Squibb Co. and AstraZeneca proposed the brand name Onglyza for saxagliptin, which, if approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, it would compete with Merck and Co Inc’s successful Januvia drug, which belongs to the same new class of diabetes medicines called DPP-4 inhibitors.

DPP-4 inhibitors work by increasing the body’s utilization of sugar, by increasing insulin production in the pancreas and by reducing the liver’s glucose production.