The Food and Drug Administration has approved the SGLT2 inhibitor drug Jardiance for use in all patients with heart failure.
The drug, made by Eli Lilly and partner Boehringer Ingelheim, originally was greenlit in 2014 to improve glucose control in adults with type 2 diabetes along with diet and exercise. Clinical trials later showed that it was also effective in reducing cardiovascular death in diabetes patients with cardiovascular disease. It also lowered the risk of death and hospitalization in patients with heart failure and low ejection fraction, a sign of reduced heart function.
“Today’s approval will provide a treatment option for a wider range of patients with heart failure,” said Norman Stockbridge, M.D., Ph.D., of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, in a Thursday announcement. “While Jardiance may not be effective in all patients with heart failure, this approval is a significant step forward for patients and our understanding of heart failure.”
Heart failure, when the heart cannot meet the needs of the body, affects more than 650,000 people in the United States each year, the FDA reported. Approximately one quarter of acute care heart failure patients are discharged to skilled nursing facilities rather than home, according to the American Heart Association.
