Diabetes patients run an additional risk of heart disease. A
drug recently approved by US-FDA drug could help with both. Empagliflozin, a
drug used to manage sugar levels has also been shown to reduce risk of heart
diseases.
Doctors in India say it's a relatively affordable drug with one
tablet costing upto Rs 45. The drug has been around for three years and is
often prescribed to Indian patients to control diabetes. It's approved status
as a medicine for heart health is now an added benefit, say doctors.
“A diabetic patient is at double the risk of heart ailments. In
a large global trial that involved over 15,000 patient, Empagliflozin was given
to diabetic patients. Their weight, sugar levels, lipid profile (fat and
cholesterol levels), and blood pressure were also monitored to assess their
susceptibility to heart diseases,” said Dr Dharmendra Panchal, an
Ahmedabad-based diabetologist, who was one of the clinical trial investigators.
In the EMPA-REG Outcome trial, the drug was shown to reduce risk
of death due to heart disease in diabetic patients by 38 per cent.
“Diabetics are two to four times more likely to develop
cardiovascular diseases. Empagliflozin will now enable physicians to prescribe
a medication that can reduce risk of dying from cardiovascular disease for Type
2 diabetics ,” said Professor Christopher P Cannon, MD, Cardiovascular
Division, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Professor of Medicine, Harvard
Medical School, US.
India has about 6.3 crore diabetics. Dr Panchal said, “The drug
shows results within a week. About 70 per cent diabetic patients are obese. We
realised in these trials that the drug brings blood sugar and blood pressure
under control and also helps patients keep their weight in check.”
Empagliflozin, however, is not for patients with Type 1 diabetes or people with
diabetic ketoacidosis, warn pharmaceutical companies. Patients with Type 1
diabetes cannot produce insulin as their pancreas are affected since birth.
However, Type 2 diabetes is more of a lifestyle disease where insulin
production is suppressed with age.
If used irresponsibly the drug can have side-effects like
dehydration or low BP. It can also lead to serious urinary tract infections or
low blood glucose when used with insulin, or fungal infections or vagina and
penis or lead to increase in cholesterol.
Empagliflozin belongs to a new class of drugs called SGL2
inhibitors, which make kidneys remove sugar through the urine route.
Source: DNA-10th-December-2016
