NICE recommends new treatment for type 2 diabetes

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) have recommended that the National Health Service (NHS) use Jardiance (empagliflozin) to treat type 2 diabetes under certain circumstances, the Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly Diabetes Alliance announced.
In some cases, empagliflozin is recommended in combination with metformin as a means of type 2 diabetes treatment, if the patient is intolerant of sulfonylureas and has a high risk of hypoglycemia.
Jardiance is, in certain circumstances, recommended as part of a triple therapy regimen to treat type 2 diabetes, along with metformin and either a sulfonylurea or a thiazolidinedione.
Thirdly, NICE recommend that empagliflozin be used to treat type 2 diabetes along with insulin, or without the use of any other diabetes drugs or medications.
Empagliflozin – Jardiance, in Europe – is a tablet taken orally, once a day. It functions by inhibiting the SGLT2 proteins, which are responsible for the bloodstream’s re-absorption of glucose. People with type 2 diabetes have too many SGLT2 proteins, so too much glucose is absorbed back in the blood, and thus blood glucose levels are elevated. By inhibiting SGLT2 proteins, empagliflozin improves glycaemic control.
In the United Kingdom, 2,974,950 adults have been diagnosed with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Around 90 per cent of cases are type 2. There exists a wide variety of treatments for type 2 diabetes, but only 64.8 per cent of people with type 2 diabetes achieve the NICE-recommended HbA1c target of 7.5 per cent.
Dr. Charles De Wet, Medical Director of Boehringer Ingelheim Ltd. UK, said: “We are very pleased that NICE has recommended empagliflozin as a clinically and cost effective treatment. It will provide additional therapeutic option for the management of glycaemic control in people with type 2 diabetes in England.”