Drug Therapy

In addition to making healthier lifestyle choices every day, medications also can help manage diabetes. Your health care provider may recommend one or a combination of medications that are used to help lower:

• Blood sugar levels and keep them within a target range
• Cholesterol
• Blood pressure
• The risk of blood clots, heart attack or stroke
• Other cardiovascular risk factors

New Medications

Some medications initially developed to lower blood sugar have been shown to lower heart risks, too, and are recommended for people at risk for heart disease and stroke. These include:

• SGLT2 inhibitors (sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors) to help lower blood sugar levels. They work by lowering the amount of blood sugar that gets reabsorbed by the body by releasing it in urine. Examples include canagliflozin, dapagliflozin, and empagliflozin.
• GLP1 receptor agonists (glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists) to help the body use insulin more efficiently and slow down how quickly your sugar rises after meals. Semaglutide, dulaglutide, and liraglutide are examples.

Talk with your health care provider to find out whether you might benefit from these therapies.