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Differential characteristics of empagliflozin in the treatment of diabetes mellitus

Abstract:

t present, diabetes mellitus (DM) is responsible for a large proportion of the total morbidity and mortality worldwide, and is linked with a very severe economic burden as well as invaluable losses in life expectancy and quality, being a highly incapacitating disease, especially in later stages. Upon this alarming panorama, a new pharmacologic class of oral antidiabetic drug has been recently introduced: SGLT2 inhibitors, among which empagliflozin (EMP) stands. Due to their exceptional results in terms of efficacy and safety, these drugs have attained rapid acceptance in treatment guidelines for DM. The greatest advantage of these agents is their mechanism of action independent of insulin physiology, which allows their versatile implementation in a wide spectrum of patients at various points of the natural history of DM. In addition, they offer benefits such as reductions in blood pressure and body weight, among others. They also stand out due to their low risk of hypoglycemia in comparison with other pharmacological treatments for DM. Although clinical outcomes with various member of this family are relatively homogeneous, findings from key research have suggested the existence of distinctive features for some of these molecules. Therefore, in this review we explore the differential characteristics of EMP for their use in the treatment of DM.