Merck & Co. has just received FDA approval for its new diabetes pill Janumet®.

Janumet®, the first pill for the treatment of type-2 diabetes by targeting all causes of the disease, is a combination of another Merck diabetes drug - Januvia® - and an older type-2 diabetes drug, metformin.

Diabetes is caused when the body doesn't produce or effectively use insulin needed to regulate sugar in the blood. Januvia increases the body's creation of insulin while metformin, the most commonly prescribed diabetes pill, helps process it.

Janumet®, now cleared for sale by the FDA, will soon be available in the U.S. market this month.

Source: Bloomberg