DTMT Network
SYDNEY: A new treatment for kidney ailments has presented tremendous hope for “hundreds of millions of patients around the world suffering from diabetes.”

The results of a landmark medical trial undertaken by the George Institute for Global Health in Sydney showed recently that kidney failure reduced by 33%, heart failure fell 30% and major cardiovascular events decreased by 20%.

Developed to lower glucose levels, the drug canagliflozin was tested in a study on 4,401 patients in 34 countries.

Professor Vivekanand Jha, President of the International Society of Nephrology, said: “What the trial has shown is that this drug not only protects people with diabetes from developing kidney failure, but it also protects them from heart disease, heart failure and other cardiovascular complications. Importantly, it helps people who already have reduced kidney function and are at particularly high risk."

Professor Vlado Perkovic, the lead author of the findings said that the need to find a new treatment for kidney disease is urgent, with rates of diabetes skyrocketing around the world.

“This definitive trial result is a major medical breakthrough as people with diabetes and kidney disease are at extremely high risk of kidney failure, heart attack, stroke and death,” he said.

Prof Perkovic claimed, “We now have a very effective way to reduce this risk using a once daily pill.”