(Yicai Global) Feb. 20 -- The new adult Type 2 diabetes treatment Synjardy will soon hit the China market after gaining approval from the country's National Medical Products Administration.

The drug's maker Boehringer-Ingelheim announced this development on its website yesterday.

Synjardy, a compound tablet consisting of empagliflozin and metformin, provides more effective and durable blood glucose control, the company explained, adding it can also better ensure patient compliance by reducing the number of pills taken, which helps to further improve blood sugar levels.

Ingelheim am Rhein-based Boehringer-Ingelheim and US pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Company, which is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, started to co-develop the new diabetes treatment in 2011.

NMPA has allowed marketing of Jardiance, Synjardy's key compound that was also jointly developed by the two companies with empagliflozin as its active ingredient, in China since September 2017.

The treatment was declared the Best Pharmaceutical Product by the Prix Galien International Award last year, a distinction seen as the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in the medical field.

Jardiance's global sales more than doubled annually to USD448 million in 2017, with the US and non-US markets contributing USD157 million and USD290 million, respectively.

Global sales were USD658 million last year, up 47 percent from a year earlier.

Editor: Ben Armour