£1.30 pill for diabetics also cuts risk of heart and kidney disease

A CHEAP anti-diabetes drug slashes the risk of heart attacks and kidney disease, a major study has found.

One expert said last night that the results were a ‘game changer’ in the treatment of type 2 diabetes.

The pill costing just £1.30 a day is taken before breakfast to lower blood sugar levels and keep weight down.

However, the analysis of 10,000 patients in 30 countries reveals the drug called canagliflozin also has a remarkable impact on cardiovascular problems and kidney disease.

as these problems are strongly linked to type 2 diabetes, the treatment could make a huge difference to the four million UK patients with the condition.

The findings presented at a conference in San diego, US, found that the pills cut the overall risk of cardiovascular disease, which includes heart attacks and strokes, by 14 per cent. The medicine sold under the trade name Invokana slashed the risk of needing hospital treatment for heart failure by a third.

Patients were also 40 per cent less likely to suffer serious kidney decline, which is a major side-effect of diabetes.

Professor Bruce Neal, of The George Institute for Global Health at Sydney University, australia, said: ‘coronary heart disease is the biggest killer by far for people with type 2 diabetes.

‘Our findings suggest that not only does canagliflozin significantly reduce the risk of heart disease, it also reduced blood pres- sure and led to weight loss.’ co-author Professor Vlado Perkovic, executive director of the institute, told the american diabetes association: ‘Patients and physicians should be tremendously reassured.

‘This is a game changer. It not only reduces the risk of heart disease, it also provides real protection against kidney decline.’

People with type 2 diabetes are up to five times more likely to have cardiovascular disease. The threat of heart disease dropped not just for those already deemed to be at risk but for all patients, according to the findings published in the New england Journal of Medicine. canagliflozin works by blocking the body’s absorption of sugar, meaning that more passes harmlessly through the body and glucose levels drop.

But the researchers also found that patients taking the drug were twice as likely to need amputations and more work was needed to find out why.

canagliflozin has been available on the NHS since 2016. It is recommended for patients for whom diet and exercise are not sufficient to keep blood sugar levels down.

The diabetes UK charity said: ‘Invokana is a relatively new drug and the effects on patients taking the drug for several years are not yet known.’