Empagliflozin as a new management strategy on outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus have an increased risk of cardiovascular (CV) complications. Although hyperglycaemia contributes to the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and heart failure in these patients, glucose-lowering strategies did not have a significant effect on reducing CV risk, particularly in patients with a long duration of type 2 diabetes mellitus and prevalent CV disease (CVD). Sodium-glucose linked transporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors are a new class of anti-hyperglycaemic medications that increase glycaemic control via insulin-dependent mechanism of action associated with increased urinary glucose excretion. In this review, we present an analysis of the Empa-Reg Outcomes investigation, focussed on assessing the CV safety of empagliflozin, an inhibitor of SGLT2. We discuss the impressive results of trials that provide evidence on the cardiac and renal properties of empagliflozin. We present and analyse the current hypothesis on the mechanism of action of glucose-lowering medication, which has such a severe and complex impact on outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes at high CV risk.