Good News for 70 million Diabetes Patients in India Too
Hope for Hundreds of Millions of People with Diabetes Worldwide
By Onkareshwar Pandey
New Delhi, April 15, 2019: A new Breakthrough has been achieved in the medical-science, which can be good news for around 70 million people in India, who have diabetes and, out of which up to 40% will go onto develop kidney disease.
A new treatment for people with diabetes and kidney disease reduced kidney failure rates by a third, according to a landmark study.
The results, which were presented at the ISN World Congress of Nephrology in Melbourne today, can be implemented immediately as the drug is already available.
The results, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, also showed heart failure was reduced by over 30%, and major cardiovascular events by about 20%, according to a press release issued here in Delhi by The George Institute India.
The randomised study was funded by Janssen, which manufactures canagliflozin, and led by an independent, academic-led Steering Committee.
The drug canagliflozin was developed to lower glucose levels for people with diabetes but today has been shown to protect against kidney failure. It also significantly reduced the risk of cardiovascular complications including heart failure, which are common among people with kidney disease.
Lead author Professor Vlado Perkovic, of The George Institute for Global Health, said there was an urgent need for this new treatment given the surging rates of diabetes.
“Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure worldwide but for almost two decades there have been no new treatments to protect kidney function. This definitive trial result is a major medical breakthrough as people with diabetes and kidney disease are at extremely high risk of kidney failure, heart attack, stroke and death. We now have a very effective way to reduce this risk using a once-daily pill.”