Dive Brief:
- Eli Lilly and Boehringer Ingelheim said Wednesday its diabetes drug Jardiance reduced the risk of progressive kidney disease, adding to the competitive profile of the drug.
- Jardiance was the first treatment for diabetes to demonstrate a cardiovascular benefit, prompting a race among other drugmakers in the space to show a similar effect.
- When added to the standard of care in adults with type 2 diabetes, Jardiance reduced the risk of new-onset or worsening kidney disease by 39% compared to a placebo.
- Other drugmakers are closing in on Jardiance's cardiovascular advantage. Danish Novo Nordisk recently published data showing its drug Victoza also reduced heart risks, while Merck and Pfizer have expanded a clinical trial for their SGLT-2 inhibitor ertugliflozin.
Dive Insight:
Just as other drugmakers begin to catch up to Lilly and Boehringer, the two companies set a new bar for clinical benefit in diabetes treatments.
“With these new EMPA-REG OUTCOME data, Jardiance is the only SGLT-2 inhibitor associated with evidence of slowing the progression of kidney disease in adults with type 2 diabetes and established cardiovascular disease in a cardiovascular outcome study," said Hans-Juergen Woerle, global vice president of medicine at Boehringer.
A little over a third of patients with type 2 diabetes are estimated to develop kidney disease, and over 40% of new kidney failure cases stem from existing diabetes, according to the companies.
The data came from the EMPA-REG study which had also shown Jardiance's cardiovascular benefit. Enrolling over 7,000 patients, the study last year showed Jardiance reduced the combined risk of hospitalization or death due to heart failure also by 39%.
In this new analysis, Jardiance's topline result was a composite endpoint which measured the drug's effect on initiation of renal replacement therapy (dialysis), reducing doubling of creatinine, and progression to macroalbuminuria.