Type 2 diabetes is a long-term health condition that affects millions of people around the world. It happens when the body cannot properly use insulin, a hormone that helps sugar move from the blood into the cells for energy.
As a result, sugar levels in the blood stay high. Over time, this can damage many parts of the body, including the heart, kidneys, eyes, and nerves. One of the most serious complications of type 2 diabetes is chronic kidney disease, which is when the kidneys slowly lose their ability to filter waste and extra fluid from the blood.
Many people with diabetes also have a higher risk of heart attacks, strokes, and heart failure. Because of this, finding medicines that can protect both the kidneys and the heart is extremely important.
In recent years, a group of medications called SGLT2 inhibitors has gained a lot of attention. These drugs were first developed to help lower blood sugar levels. They work in the kidneys by blocking a protein that normally helps reabsorb sugar back into the blood. When this protein is blocked, the body gets rid of extra sugar through urine.
This simple action not only lowers blood sugar, but also helps people lose a small amount of weight and can slightly reduce blood pressure. Over time, scientists discovered that these medications may also protect the heart and kidneys in ways that go beyond just controlling blood sugar.
One medication in this group, called sotagliflozin, has now been closely studied by researchers to understand its full benefits. Sotagliflozin is a little different from other SGLT2 inhibitors because it blocks two related proteins, known as SGLT1 and SGLT2. This means it may have an even broader effect on how the body handles sugar and energy.
Researchers wanted to know whether this medicine could help people who have both type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease, especially those who are also at risk of heart problems.
To find the answer, scientists looked at data from a large and carefully designed clinical trial called the SCORED trial. In this study, people with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease were divided into two groups.
One group received sotagliflozin, and the other group received a placebo, which is a harmless pill with no active medicine. Neither the patients nor the doctors knew who was getting the real drug during the study. This type of study design helps ensure that the results are fair and reliable.
When the researchers later analyzed the results of the trial, they found some very encouraging outcomes. People who took sotagliflozin were much less likely to develop serious kidney problems compared to those who did not take the drug. In fact, there was a 38 percent reduction in the risk of severe kidney damage.
This included a major drop in kidney function, reaching very low levels of kidney performance, or needing treatments such as dialysis or even a kidney transplant. These are very serious outcomes, so any drug that can lower this risk is extremely valuable.
The researchers also looked at a combined outcome that included both heart and kidney problems. This included deaths related to the heart or kidneys, along with serious worsening of either organ. In this case, sotagliflozin reduced the risk by 23 percent.
This means that the people who took the medication were significantly less likely to experience life‑threatening heart or kidney events than those who did not. For people living with diabetes, this kind of protection can make a real difference in both life expectancy and quality of life.
Because of these strong results, sotagliflozin has already been approved in the United States under the brand name INPEFA.
It is used to reduce the risk of cardiovascular death and heart failure problems in people who have heart failure or chronic kidney disease, even if they do not have diabetes. This wide approval shows just how promising and useful this medication could be in the real world.
While this research does not mean that sotagliflozin is a perfect cure, it does represent an important step forward. It offers new hope to people who are struggling with the combined burden of diabetes, kidney disease, and heart problems.
Doctors may now have another powerful tool to help protect their patients from some of the most dangerous complications of these conditions.
In the future, scientists will continue to study sotagliflozin and similar drugs to better understand how they work and how they can be used in the safest and most effective way. For now, this research shows that a medicine originally created to lower blood sugar might also play a key role in protecting some of the body’s most important organs.
If you care about diabetes, please read studies about the cooking connection between potatoes and diabetes, and low calorie diets may help reverse type 2 diabetes.
For more health information, please see recent studies about protein power: a new ally in diabetes management, and pineapple and diabetes: A sweet surprise.
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