I wrote – Yasmine El Sawy:
The NHS last week approved a tablet called Finerenone for type 2 diabetes patients with kidney disease.
Doctors usually recommend diabetic patients to take medication daily to reduce the risk of developing health complications on the kidneys and heart, which can be life-threatening, according to the British Daily Mail.
High sugar levels in people with diabetes can damage the blood vessels in the kidneys, and thus they are unable to filter toxins from the blood, which is harmful to heart health>
Experts said the drug’s approval would benefit up to 1.5 million British diabetics, who either have kidney disease or are expected to develop it in the future.
Finerenone, also known as Kerendia, reduces the amount of aldosterone made by the body and affects the health of the kidneys.
It was also found that this drug is safer than previous drugs, which means that it does not have any complications affecting heart health.
The global trial on the drug included more than 5,500 adults with kidney disease associated with type 2 diabetes who took the drug on a daily basis.
The results showed that regarding a fifth of those who took the drug were less likely to die from kidney failure compared to patients with type 2 diabetes who did not take the drug.
It was also shown that this drug reduced the risk of dying from heart failure by 14% following two and a half years.
The researchers believe that the long-term benefits might be greater, noting that taking a tablet every day may reduce the risk of developing kidney failure by up to 40%, which reduces the chances of hospitalization and death.
The next step is likely to be to offer this treatment to kidney patients who do not have diabetes, which means that many more patients might benefit from it.