SYDNEY, April 15 (Xinhua) -- A groundbreaking new treatment for kidney disease has demonstrated tremendous hope for "hundreds of millions of people around the world suffering from diabetes."
The results of the landmark medical trial undertaken by the George Institute for Global Health in Sydney showed on Monday that kidney failure reduced by 33 percent, heart failure fell 30 percent and major cardiovascular events decreased by 20 percent.
Developed to lower glucose levels, the drug canagliflozin was tested in a study of over 4,000 people in 34 countries.
According to the lead author of findings Professor Vlado Perkovic from the George Institute for Global Health, the need to find a new treatment for kidney disease is urgent, with rates of diabetes skyrocketing around the world.
"Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure worldwide but for almost two decades there have been no new treatments to protect kidney function," he said.
"This definitive trial result is a major medical breakthrough as people with diabetes and kidney disease are at extremely high risk of kidney failure, heart attack, stroke and death."
"We now have a very effective way to reduce this risk using a once daily pill."
Confident the medication can be dispersed immediately, co-author Associate Prof. Meg Jardine said with 5 million people worldwide predicted to have kidney failure by 2035 and hundreds of millions more suffering from diabetes, "this is a major breakthrough."
"What we have shown is that this drug not only protects people with diabetes from developing kidney failure, but it also protects them from heart disease, heart failure and other cardiovascular complications," she said.
"Importantly, it also helps people who already have reduced kidney function and are at particularly high risk."
