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By Robert Preidt
HealthDay Reporter
SATURDAY, Nov. 10, 2018 (HealthDay News) – The diabetes drug Farxiga might double-duty for patients, helping to ward off another killer, heart failure, new research shows.
Type 2 diabetics who took Farxiga (dapagliflozin) in their place of withdrawal, compared to those who took a placebo, according to a study funded by the drug maker, Astra-Zeneca.
"When it comes to helping our patients control and manage blood glucose, the 'how' appears to be important [as] Dr. Stephen Wiviott, a research fellow at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.
"When choosing a therapy, trial results like these can help us make informed decisions about what is not only safe for lowering blood glucose, but it can also reduce the risk of heart and kidney complications," Wiviott said in a hospital news release.
The findings were published Nov. 10 in the New England Journal of Medicine, to coincide with their presentation at the annual meeting of the American Heart Association in Chicago.
The new study included more than 17,000 type 2 diabetes patients aged 40 and older. Wiviott's group said Nearly 7,000 had heart disease.
Patients were randomly assigned to either a "dummy" placebo pill or 10 milligrams of Farxiga each day.
Taking the drug did not reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke and cardiovascular-related death, the research team found. However, patients who took the drug did so in their blood sugar levels, plus an added bonus: a 27 percent decrease in their risk of hospitalization for heart failure.
Their risk of kidney failure and death from kidney also fell, the Boston team said.
Farxiga is a type of drug called SGLT2 inhibitor. Two other recent studies of this class of drugs show that they "robustly and consistently improve heart [kidney] outcomes in a broad population of patients with diabetes, "Wiviott noted.
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One cardiologist who was not involved in the study said the findings are welcome news for people with diabetes.
"Sadly," said Dr. Cindy Grines, "who heads cardiology at North Shore University Hospital, in Manhasset, N.Y.
She noted that, in the past, there was concern that some diabetes medications might be beneficial, but this new study shows that "there are now beneficial effects that have beneficial cardiovascular effects."
Grines noted that fluid buildup is a hallmark of heart failure. And because Farxiga "works by increasing the excretion of glucose in urine, it is not surprising that it reduces heart failure."
However, she found it surprising that the drug did not lower the price of heart attack or stroke.
The common diabetes drug metformin HAS These are shown to lower the risk for these cardiac events, however. So, "I would thing [Farxiga] to add to metformin in patients with congestive heart failure, "Grines added.
According to Grines, patients with heart issues should avoid one class of diabetes drugs in particular.
"Multiple studies have shown that sulfonylurea drugs – glipizide, glyburide and glimepiride – increased heartardiovascular disease, heart attack and congestive heart failure" she said, "so sulfonylureas should be avoided in all cardiac patients."
Another heart specialist is that these newer medicines are more effective than other types of diabetes.
Dr. Marcin Kowalski, a cardiologist at Staten Island University Hospital in New York City, said: "This is a welcome development. "It is also important that this group of medications did not increase [negative] cardiovascular outcomes. "
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