GlaxoSmithKline has announced the submission of a marketing authorisation application for albiglutide, which will have the brand name Eperzan, to the European Medicines Agency.

The filing of albiglutide, a once-weekly treatment for type 2 diabetes, comes almost two months after it was filed in the USA. The drug is a GLP-1 receptor agonist, the same class of injectable treatments dominated by Novo Nordisk's once-a-day Victoza (liraglutide), twice-daily Byetta (exenatide) and an extended-release formulation of the latter, Bydureon. They were developed and sold by Amylin, which was then acquired by  Bristol-Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca.

The filing is based in part on a study which assessed albiglutide against Merck & Co's DPP-4 inhibitor Januvia (sitagliptin) which showed that GSK's drug showed clinically and statistically significant reductions in HbA1c from baseline and superiority versus the US firm's diabetes blockbuster. However in data from a late-stage study released in November 2011, albiglutide failed to show non-inferiority to Victoza and a number of analysts believe GSK will have its work cut out to grab a decent share of the GLP-1 market.