Drug Reduces Risk of Kidney Failure in Diabetes Patient
SAN FRANCISCO (Dispatches) -- A new landmark clinical trial shows that a drug lowers the risk of kidney failure by a third in people with Type 2 diabetes and kidney disease.
"For the first time in 18 years, we have a therapy for patients with Type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease that decreases kidney failure," said Kenneth Mahaffey, MD, professor of medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine and co-principal investigator of the trial. "Now, patients with diabetes have a promising option to guard against one of the most severe risks of their condition."
The trial involved 4,401 participants in 34 countries.
The drug, canagliflozin, improves on a nearly two-decades-old therapy that is currently the only treatment approved to protect kidney function in people with Type 2 diabetes. In the trial, canagliflozin also was found to reduce the risk of major cardiovascular events.
Canagliflozin increases the excretion of glucose through the kidneys. It has already been approved by the Food and Drug Administration to lower blood glucose in patients with Type 2 diabetes and to reduce the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events in patients with Type 2 diabetes and existing heart disease.
"For the first time in 18 years, we have a therapy for patients with Type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease that decreases kidney failure," said Kenneth Mahaffey, MD, professor of medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine and co-principal investigator of the trial. "Now, patients with diabetes have a promising option to guard against one of the most severe risks of their condition."
The trial involved 4,401 participants in 34 countries.
The drug, canagliflozin, improves on a nearly two-decades-old therapy that is currently the only treatment approved to protect kidney function in people with Type 2 diabetes. In the trial, canagliflozin also was found to reduce the risk of major cardiovascular events.
Canagliflozin increases the excretion of glucose through the kidneys. It has already been approved by the Food and Drug Administration to lower blood glucose in patients with Type 2 diabetes and to reduce the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events in patients with Type 2 diabetes and existing heart disease.