The Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly Diabetes Alliance announced today that the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has issued its Final Appraisal Determination1 (FAD) recommending Jardiance (empagliflozin) for use within the National Health Service (NHS England) in the treatment of type 2 diabetes as follows:-

1.1 Empagliflozin in a dual therapy regimen in combination with metformin is recommended as an option for treating type 2 diabetes, only if:

  • a sulfonylurea is contraindicated or not tolerated, or
  • the person is at significant risk of hypoglycaemia or its consequences.

1.2 Empagliflozin in a triple therapy regimen is recommended as an option for treating type 2 diabetes in combination with:

  • metformin and a sulfonylurea or
  • metformin and a thiazolidinedione.

1.3 Empagliflozin in combination with insulin with or without other antidiabetic drugs is recommended as an option for treating type 2 diabetes.

1.4 People currently receiving treatment initiated within the NHS with empagliflozin that is not recommended for them by NICE in this guidance should be able to continue treatment until they and their NHS clinician consider it appropriate to stop.

An estimated 2,974,950 adults (20-79 years) in the United Kingdom have Type 1 or Type 2 Diabetes2. T2D is the most common type, accounting for an estimated 90% of all diabetes cases3. Although a range of treatments exist to manage the condition, only 64.8% of people hit the NICE glycaemic target of 7.5%4.

"We are very pleased that NICE has recommended empagliflozin as a clinically and cost effective treatment. It will provide an additional therapeutic option for the management of glycaemic control in people with type 2 diabetes in England" said Dr Charles De Wet, Medical Director Boehringer Ingelheim Ltd UK.

About Empagliflozin

Empagliflozin, marketed in Europe as Jardiance5 is an oral, once daily tablet for the treatment of adults with Type 2 Diabetes and is part of the SGLT2 inhibitor class. SGLT2 are proteins fundamental to the kidney's role in filtering blood sugar and are responsible for about 90 percent of the reabsorption of glucose back into the bloodstream.6 In people with T2D, there is an overexpression of SGLT2, contributing to elevated blood glucose levels.7