Eli Lilly's Jardiance Becomes First Diabetes Drug To Cut Risk Of Stroke, Heart Attack

A long-term clinical investigation trial for the Type II diabetes drug Jardiance has revealed that it helps reduce the occurrence of cardiovascular events in people who are at greater risk. The announcement about the trial results came from drugmakers Eli Lilly and Co and Boehringer Ingelheim.

The trial involved 7,000 people with Type II diabetes who were also at a greater risk of cardiovascular events. On Aug. 20, the company announced the role of Jardiance in reducing the risk of CV events when taken as part of the standard treatment for diabetes. The primary endpoint of the clinical trial was marked by the occurrence of the first death due to a cardiovascular event, a non-fatal stroke or a non-fatal myocardial infarction.

“Approximately 50 percent of deaths in people with type 2 diabetes worldwide are caused by cardiovascular disease. Reducing cardiovascular risk is an essential component of diabetes management,” said Professor Hans-Juergen Woerle of the Boehringer Ingelheim, in a press release.

So far, Jardiance is the only drug to have successfully demonstrated a reduction in the occurrence of a cardiovascular event. The safety profile of the drug was kept consistent with the studies conducted previously.

The success of the clinical trials is expected to raise the profile of other rival drugs, including AstraZeneca Plc's Farxiga and Invokana by Johnson & Johnson. All the three drugs belong to the same class of medicines called SGLT2 inhibitors.

Jardiance was approved by the FDA in August, 2015. It was found to be effective in lowering the overall blood sugar by blocking the protein SGLT2 and, in turn, inhibiting reabsorption of glucose in the kidneys.

The research team is planning to present the full clinical trial results on September 17, at the 51st European Association for the Study of Diabetes Annual Meeting in Stockholm, Sweden.