Empagliflozin demonstrated a tolerable and efficacious strategy to reduce HbA1c in patients with type 2 diabetes who had not previously received drug treatment according to a study published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology in Sep 2013.

In a multicentre, randomised, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trial, of T2DM adults (aged ≥18 years) who had not received oral or injected anti-diabetes treatment in the previous 12 weeks with HbA1c concentrations of 7—10%, 228 patients to receive placebo, 224 to receive empagliflozin 10 mg, 224 to receive empagliflozin 25 mg, and 223 to receive sitagliptin. Compared with placebo, adjusted mean differences in change from baseline HbA1c at week 24 were −0•74% (95% CI −0•88 to −0•59; p<0•0001) for empagliflozin 10 mg, −0•85% (—0•99 to −0•71; p<0•0001) for empagliflozin 25 mg, and −0•73% (—0•88 to −0•59; p<0•0001) for sitagliptin. 140 (61%) patients in the placebo group reported adverse events (four [2%] severe and six [3%] serious), as did 123 (55%) patients in the empagliflozin 10 mg group (eight [4%] severe and eight [4%] serious), 135 (60%) patients in the empagliflozin 25 mg group (seven [3%] severe and five [2%] serious), and 119 (53%) patients in the sitagliptin group (five [2%] severe and six [3%] serious).

Empagliflozin is an oral, potent, and selective inhibitor of sodium—glucose co-transporter 2(SGLT 2) by Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly.