LONDON (Reuters) - European regulators on Friday backed approval of a new diabetes drug from AstraZeneca and Bristol-Myers Squibb that was rejected last year in the United States.

Dapagliflozin belongs to a new class of diabetes drugs designed to allow more sugar to be excreted with urine and has the potential to be the first to treat the disease independent of the hormone insulin.

The European Medicines Agency also endorsed new drugs from Novartis and Takeda.

(Reporting by Ben Hirschler; editing Kate Kelland)