Low incidence of diabetic ketoacidosis with canagliflozin

(HealthDay)—For canagliflozin-treated patients with type 2 diabetes, the incidence of serious adverse events of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is low, according to research published online July 22 in Diabetes Care.

Ngozi Erondu, M.P.H., from Janssen Research & Development in Raritan, N.J., and colleagues examined the incidence of serious adverse events of DKA among canagliflozin-treated patients with type 2 diabetes. Data were included from 17,596 patients from randomized studies of canagliflozin through May 11, 2015.

The researchers identified serious adverse events of DKA and related events in 12 patients (0.07 percent). These included four (0.07 percent), six (0.11 percent), and two (0.03 percent) patients treated with canagliflozin 100 and 300 mg, and comparator, respectively. The corresponding incidence rates per 1,000 patient-years were 0.522, 0.763, and 0.238. The majority of those with DKA and related events had a blood glucose of >300 mg/dL, received insulin, and had risk factors such as type 1 diabetes/latent autoimmune diabetes of adulthood.

"DKA and related events occurred at a low frequency in the canagliflozin type 2 diabetes program, with an incidence consistent with limited existing observational data in the general population with type 2 diabetes," the authors write.

The authors were employed by Janssen Research & Development, which funded the study and developed canagliflozin in collaboration with Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation.