FDA Approves Two-In-One Diabetes Treatment
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a new drug from AstraZeneca that combines two drugs in one to help lower blood glucose in those with .
The new drug, Xigduo XR, is a once-daily tablet that merges the recently approved diabetes drug dapagliflozin with the popular drug metformin.
Dapagliflozin, a product of AstraZeneca and Bristol-Myers Squibb, was approved by the FDA in January of this year. It works by blocking the absorption of excess glucose by the kidneys, so sugar is released through urine. Metformin, believed to be the most widely used medication to treat diabetes, works by suppressing glucose production by the liver.
The drug is the first in the United States to combine the sodium glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitor dapagliflozin (marketed as Farxiga in the U.S.) with the biguanide-class drug metformin.
The drug is already approved to treat type 2 diabetes in Australia, and a similar version is available in Europe.
FDA approval was based on clinical trials of patients taking both drugs, not on trials of the specific drug Xigduo XR.
