Addition of canagliflozin to insulin improves glycaemic control and reduces insulin dose in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: A randomized controlled trial

The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of canagliflozin in reducing the required insulin dose and the risk of hypoglycaemia in type 2 diabetes (T2D). This study was conducted in patients with T2D treated with insulin. They were randomly assigned to the control (n = 17) and canagliflozin (n = 17, plus 100 mg/day canagliflozin) groups. In both groups, a defined insulin dose adjustment protocol was applied to achieve the same level of glycaemic control. The change from baseline in daily insulin dose was significantly smaller in the canagliflozin group (3.9 units/day) than in the control group (13.4 units/day; P = 0.040). Low blood glucose index and predicted % of blood glucose (BG) <70 mg/dL, which are hypoglycaemia-related variables, worsened significantly in the control group but both remained unchanged in the canagliflozin group. The standard deviation for night-time BG levels improved significantly only in the canagliflozin group. Supplementation of insulin therapy with 100 mg canagliflozin in patients with T2D reduced the required insulin dose and hypoglycaemic risk and flattened night-time glycaemic fluctuations while maintaining the same level of glycaemic control.