As­traZeneca's di­a­betes drug Farx­i­ga helps pa­tients with heart dis­ease and with­out di­a­betes in land­mark tri­al

Months ago, da­ta on J&J’s $JNJ In­vokana in­di­cat­ed the di­a­betes drug con­ferred car­dio­vas­cu­lar (CV) ben­e­fit in pa­tients who do and do not have pre­ex­ist­ing CV dis­ease. On Tues­day, As­traZeneca’s $AZN ri­val treat­ment, Farx­i­ga, was shown to cut the risk of CV death or the wors­en­ing of heart fail­ure in pa­tients with heart dis­ease, in a land­mark tri­al.

The treat­ments, in ad­di­tion to Jar­diance from Eli Lil­ly $LLY, be­long to a class of di­a­betes drugs called sodi­um-glu­cose co-trans­porter 2 (SGLT2) in­hibitors, which work by curb­ing the ab­sorp­tion of glu­cose via the kid­neys so that sur­plus glu­cose is ex­cret­ed through uri­na­tion.

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