What Clinicians Need to Know About the Cardiovascular Effects of the Most Recent Classes of Drugs Used for Type 2 Diabetes

The treatment of cardiovascular disease in patients with diabetes has seen a sea-change in recent years with the development of novel anti-hyperglycemic agents. The impact of sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors and glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs), two medication classes introduced in the U.S in the wake of increased scrutiny by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on cardiovascular disease and anti-hyperglycemic agents, highlight this progression. In recent trials, SGLT2 inhibitors have demonstrated significant reductions in heart failure admissions in patients with established cardiovascular disease and those at risk of cardiovascular disease, as well as significant reductions in major adverse cardiovascular events for those with established cardiovascular disease.