Jardiance slows kidney disease in people with type 2 diabetes, research suggests

The diabetes drug Jardiance has been found to reduce the risk of progressive kidney disease versus placebo in adults with type 2 diabetes.
The study looked at the effectiveness of Jardiance (empagliflozin), which is used to lower blood sugar levels in adults with type 2 diabetes.
The pill, which is taken once a day and works by eliminating glucose in the urine, is a relatively new form of drug used to control type 2 diabetes called SGLT-2 inhibitors.
A total of 7,000 people took part in the EMPA-REG OUTCOME study.
Findings showed that Jardiance cut the risk for on-set or worsening kidney disease by 39 per cent, compared with those who had been taking placebo or standard type 2 diabetes treatment and had a history of heart disease.
The results also showed a 55 per cent reduction in renal replacement therapy.
Speaking at the annual conference of the American Diabetes Associatio, Dr Christoph Wanner, from the department of medicine, division of nephrology at Würzburg University Clinic, Würzburg, said: “Kidney disease is developed in approximately 35 per cent of the population with type 2 diabetes.
“In the last 15 years, we have had no new diabetes-specific kidney treatment until today.”
Lead investigator Dr Bernard Zinma, director of the Diabetes Centre at Mount Sinai Hospital and senior scientist at the Lunenfeld Tanenbaum Research Institute, added: “As people with type 2 diabetes age, their risk for cardiovascular events increases.
“These sub-analyses suggest that empagliflozin is associated with reducing cardiovascular events regardless of age when starting treatment.”
The results were also published in The New England Journal of Medicine.