December 31, 2015 : 2015 Year in Review: SGLT-2 Inhibitors

As we say goodbye to 2015, we’re revisiting some of our most popular SGLT-2 coverage this year.

• Anti-Diabetic Drug and Superior Reduction of Cardiovascular Death
• Effects of Diabetes Medications on Heart Complications
• SGLT-2 Inhibitor Reduces Risk of Cardiovascular Death: Should Current Guidelines be Impacted?
• Canagliflozin Versus Glimepiride in T2DM Patients Taking Metformin
• Combination of a DPP-4 and an SGLT-2 for Type 2s
• Efficacy and Safety of an SGLT-2 Inhibitor with Insulin for Type 2s
• Triple Therapy Improves Glycemia in Type 1 Diabetes
• Can an SGLT-2 Inhibitor Be Used in Type 1 Diabetes?
• Canagliflozin and Its Effects on Weight Loss and BP
• Discussion of Practical Implementation of SGLT-2’s with a Patient
• SGLT-2 Inhibitors: Teach from the Start and Manage Expectations

• and the Most Viewed SGLT-2 Article of 2015

When you look at the history of diabetes medication development, it appears every new class of drugs is based on finding a part of the body that is failing or malfunctioning, and then finding a way to rectify it. Insulin came first because that was missing in type one patients. When it came to type 2 patients, we realized the pancreas had lost some function, and so we came up with Orinase, Dymelor, and Diabenese — first generation sulfonylureas. We have discovered more defects in the  liver, muscle, brain, fat and small intestines, and each time we found a way to treat the problem.

The most recent defect we discovered was in the kidneys, and over the past 18 months we have been able to use the SGLT-2 inhibitors to overcome the defect and improve diabetes care. This class of drugs has had a tremendous uptake in the diabetes care community, and it seems like the more we study these products the more positive effect they have.

This is why we have decided as our final special newsletter of the year to review the past year’s best news and results for this class of drugs.

Your partner in diabetes care,
Dave Joffe
Editor-in-chief

Diabetes experts conclude diabetes treatment should continue with no changes in current recommendations.

SGLT-2 inhibitors are a new class of drug for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, but they are also being used off label in patients with type 1 diabetes.

Treatment with canagliflozin, an SGLT-2 inhibitor, was associated with reductions in body weight, HbA1c and systolic blood pressure.

Findings suggest significant reduction in the risk of CV death and all-cause mortality for T2DM patients with a history of CVD.

Reduced risk of heart attacks, strokes, cardiovascular events suggested.

New study generates lively discussion among experts at EASD on how to consider the results in prescribing, exploration of possible mechanism and potential class effect.

Canagliflozin shows good results when compared to glimepiride in type 2 diabetes patients who were taking metformin.

New treatment strategies have focused on both dipeptidyl peptidase (DPP)-4 inhibitors, and SGLT-2’s.

Canagliflozin appears to offer significant benefits when used in conjunction with insulin therapy.

Combination of insulin, a GLP-1 receptor agonist and an SGLT-2 inhibitor effective, includes DKA risk.

A short series, courtesy Dr. Stanley Schwartz, on discussing SGLT-2 inhibitor therapy with your patients

A female patient, 42 years of age, with type 2 diabetes, is overweight with a history of vaginal yeast infections with elevated glucose levels. Wanting to better manage her diabetes and lose some weight, the commercials about SGLT-2 inhibitors caught her attention.