Michigan Medicine researchers identify mechanism for diabetes drug's cardiovascular benefits

Researchers at Michigan Medicine have identified a key mechanism explaining why the diabetes medication sotagliflozin, marketed as Inpefa, significantly reduces the risk of heart attack and stroke. According to laboratory experiments published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, the drug prevents excessive platelet activation, a process that typically triggers dangerous blood clots in the heart and brain.

Unlike traditional SGLT2 inhibitors such as empagliflozin or dapagliflozin, which primarily act on the kidneys, sotagliflozin targets both SGLT2 and SGLT1 proteins in various organs. In comparative tests, sotagliflozin limited platelet aggregation in human samples, whereas other SGLT2 inhibitors showed little to no effect. In animal models with damaged blood vessels, the treatment reduced clot formation by approximately 60%.

Co-author Michael A. Holinstat noted that a drug capable of addressing both diabetes and cardiovascular risks could represent a turning point for treating growing patient populations in the United States and internationally.