SCORED and SOLOIST trials add to evidence for treating diabetes with SGLT2 inhibitors

Less than a decade ago, the Food and Drug Administration approved drugs for treating type 2 diabetes in an entirely new way. Since that time, evidence in favor of the use of sodium/glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors has been mounting, with studies showing better blood glucose control, cardiovascular benefits, weight loss and more for patients with diabetes taking SGLT2 inhibitors. Now, two large clinical trials, conducted by investigators at Brigham and Women's Hospital and sponsored by Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, add new evidence about the benefits for patients with diabetes and chronic kidney disease as well as those with diabetes and recent worsening heart failure. In these two paired trials, teams of investigators led by Brigham cardiologist Deepak L. Bhatt, MD, MPH, evaluated sotagliflozin, a drug that inhibits SGLT2 and SGLT1. Results of the trials are both published in The New England Journal of Medicine and presented by Bhatt simultaneously at the Late-Breaking Clinical Trial Sessions of the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions.