Early Data on a Novel Agent for Treating Patients with Type 2 Diabetes

Dapagliflozin is an antidiabetic drug that lowers blood glucose via a novel mechanism: By inhibiting the sodium–glucose cotransporter in the kidneys, it reduces renal glucose reabsorption and increases glucose excretion. In a manufacturer-funded trial, researchers randomized 808 insulin-treated patients with type 2 diabetes to receive placebo or oral dapagliflozin (2.5, 5, or 10 mg daily) for 48 weeks.

At 48 weeks, dapagliflozin significantly lowered HbA_1c (by a mean of 0.5% at the highest dose compared with placebo) and body weight (by a mean of 2.4 kg). Insulin doses were reduced by a mean of 10 units more with dapagliflozin than with placebo. Rates of hypotension or hypovolemia were similar in the dapagliflozin and placebo groups, but dap…