HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – Patients taking a newly approved drug to treat diabetes are better controlling their blood sugar levels and losing weight.
With Type 2 diabetes, there's too much sugar in the blood, but the drugs used to treat that problem sometimes work too well, leaving patients with dangerous hypoglycemia.
"Low blood sugar clouds your thinking, it causes your heart to race, it can make you shaky," said Dr. Paul Jellinger. "It's not a desirable endpoint."
Invokana, a drug approved over the summer by the Food and Drug Administration, reduces the amount of sugar absorbed from food into the bloodstream and blocks the normal kidney function that retains sugar.
"Instead of the sugar being brought back into the body, it actually goes right out into the urine, which is not a normal situation," said Jellinger. "It's opening a valve, letting sugar out into the urine, thereby lowering the blood sugar."
Invokana is the first drug of its kind to work through the kidneys instead of the pancreas. More are expected to be available soon, and they all have the same side effect: weight loss.
"I've done very well with it," said Therese Boyd. "I've lost over 18 pounds."
Boyd said she feels better about her own health after being diagnosed with diabetes 16 years ago. Invokana, along with lower dosages of her other medications, helps her feel energetic and more in control of her diabetes.
"It doesn't stand in my way. I don't allow it stand in my way," she said. "I enjoy my life with my family and I travel. I do everything that everybody does."
Type 2 diabetes affects more than 26 million Americans.