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Drug Beneficial to Diabetics with Kidney Disease
– Reported April 17, 2014
A drug called atrasentan provides health benefits for patients with both diabetes and kidney disease, according to a new study. The findings suggest atrasentan may help maintain the well-being of patients who are at high risk of experiencing serious medical problems.
In two identical studies, 211 patients who had both type 2 diabetes and kidney disease were given either placebo, 0.75 mg/day of atrasentan, or 1.25 mg/day of atrasentan for 12 weeks. The researchers found that the low dose of atrasentan (.75 mg/day) lowered urinary protein excretion (albuminuria) by 36 percent without major side effects. The drug also lowered blood pressure and cholesterol levels. The higher dose lowered albuminuria, but caused more fluid retention.
Although this study demonstrates that atrasentan treatment results in clinically significant albuminuria reduction with minimal fluid overload-related or cardiovascular side effects, a larger study on hard renal and/or cardiac outcomes is needed to further support these findings, Dick de Zeeuw, MD, at University Medical Center Groningen, in the Netherlands, was quoted as saying.
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SOURCE: Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN), April 2014
