Study finds diabetes drug may prevent\, slow kidney disease

Study finds diabetes drug may prevent, slow kidney disease

Doctors say it's hard to overstate the importance of this study, and what it means for curbing this problem, which is growing because of the obesity epidemic.AP  |  April 15, 2019, 07:42 IST
Study finds diabetes drug may prevent, slow kidney disease A new study shows that a drug used to help control blood sugar in people with diabetes also can prevent or slow kidney disease, which causes millions of deaths each year and requires hundreds of thousands of people to use dialysis to stay alive.

Doctors say it's hard to overstate the importance of this study, and what it means for curbing this problem, which is growing because of the obesity epidemic.

The study tested the drug Invokana (in-vo-KAHN-ah) in people with Type 2 diabetes who were already getting standard treatments. Invokana lowered by 30% the risk of kidney failure, the need for dialysis or a kidney transplant or some other problems.

Results were discussed Sunday at a medical meeting in Australia and published by the New England Journal of Medicine.