Medicine News

New Medication Reduces Cardiovascular Complications In Diabetics

Recent research has discovered a new medication that may reduce the chances of death from a heart attack, stroke or heart failure in a type 2 diabetic by 32 percent.

Jardiance, also known as empaglifozin, is a once-a-day medication from Eli Lilly and Company. It was examined in a three-year study and is intended for use by type 2 diabetics who have histories of heart disease or other cardiovascular implications.

Dr. Bernard Zinman, director of the Diabetes Center at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, led the study and said the study’s results will prompt medical societies to recommend the new medication.

This is the first diabetes therapy to show robust effect in reducing cardiovascular death. It really is big news.

Jardiance was developed by Germany’s Boehringer Ingelheim pharmaceutical company. It is included to a newer family of diabetic treatments, referred to as SGLT2 inhibitors. This family is known to lower blood sugar by inhibiting the reabsorption of glucose in kidneys. Unlike other SGLT2 inhibitors, Jardiance causes weight loss and lowers blood pressure, blood sugar levels and body fat percentage. Zinman said it also reduces swelling throughout the body, which benefits the cardiovascular system.

The clinical trial’s results, which were published in New England Journal of Medicine, showed that when compared to subjects who took a placebo, those who added Jardiance to their regimen were 35 percent less likely to be hospitalized for heart failure.

Steven Nissen, a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic, said that Jardiance is the only drug proven to benefit the cardiovascular system. Although other drugs that have gone through major trials showed an improvement in the metabolic function of diabetics, they didn’t reduce the number of heart attacks, strokes or cardiovascular-related deaths.

This is the first time ever that a diabetes drug has shown evidence of cardiovascular benefit…obviously, this is an important finding.

The medication was approved for marketing in the U.S. by the Food and Drug Administration last year. More than 29 million people in the U.S. have diabetes, which along with its related complication, account for approximately $245 billion in medical costs.

In other diabetes coverage at Immortal News, a new study has found that marijuana is linked to prediabetes.

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