"These findings are clinically important, given that more than a third of people with type 2 diabetes will develop kidney disease, which can lead to kidney failure and eventually the need for dialysis. In the United States, the cost to treat chronic kidney disease is estimated to exceed $48 billion annually," said Christoph Wanner, M.D., chief of the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension at the University Hospital of Würzburg, Germany. "Since diabetes is the number one cause of kidney failure in the U.S., novel treatments that may have the potential to help address this crucial medical need are necessary."These findings were part of a pre-specified exploratory analysis plan of additional endpoints of the landmark EMPA-REG OUTCOME® trial. New-onset or worsening kidney disease was a pre-specified composite endpoint that included the below clinical events. Compared with placebo, JARDIANCE led to the following statistically significant changes in outcomes:
- 55 percent reduction in the initiation of renal replacement therapy (such as dialysis)
- 44 percent reduction in doubling of creatinine (a waste product usually filtered by the kidneys) in the blood
- 38 percent reduction in progression to macroalbuminuria (very high levels of a protein called albumin in the urine)
