Jardiance

What is Jardiance?

Jardiance is the brand name for the generic drug empagliflozin.

The drug is a sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor. It helps lower blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes by prompting the kidneys to filter more glucose out of the blood and eliminate it through the urine. The drug has a diuretic action, lowering the amount of sodium and water in the body.¹

What You Need To Know About Type 2 Diabetes

Jardiance also helps with weight loss, which lowers blood pressure.²

What is Jardiance used to treat?

Jardiance is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of the following conditions:³

• Type 2 diabetes mellitus

  • Improves blood sugar control when used along with diet and exercise measures (in ages ten years and older)

  • Lowers the risk of death for those with cardiovascular conditions (adults)⁴

• Heart failure — lowers the risk of hospitalization and death due to cardiovascular complications (adults)⁵

People with type 2 diabetes mellitus have high blood sugar because their bodies either don’t produce enough insulin or use it incorrectly. Jardiance helps lower blood glucose levels and prevent further complications. Untreated diabetes will lead to serious health problems, including stroke and damage to the heart, kidneys, nerves, and eyes.⁶

Dosage forms and strengths

Jardiance is available in 10mg and 25mg tablets.⁷

How do you take Jardiance?

Follow your doctor’s instructions for taking Jardiance exactly.

Your doctor might start you out on a lower dose and then increase it if your blood sugars are not well controlled.

Jardiance is recommended to be taken once a day in the morning. Try to take it around the same time each day. You can take it either with or without food.

Jardiance is often prescribed in combination with other medications to help manage type 2 diabetes. If this is the case for you, be sure to follow your doctor’s dosage and timing instructions for all your medications.⁹

Your doctor will probably recommend lifestyle changes, too — like adding regular exercise and eating a healthy diet — to further help control your diabetes.

Seeing results

Taking Jardiance will start to lower your blood sugar right away, but getting it to a safe level and keeping it stable will usually take more time.

Peak plasma concentrations are reached 1.5 hours after taking a dose of Jardiance.⁹

Who should not take Jardiance?

There are several reasons that certain people should avoid taking Jardiance.¹⁰

• Jardiance does not treat type 1 diabetes, and it may increase the risk of diabetic ketoacidosis.

• Children under the age of ten should not take the Jardiance.

• People with type 2 diabetes who have significantly reduced kidney function, are currently on dialysis, are in end-stage kidney failure, or have other serious kidney disease should not take Jardiance.

• You shouldn’t take Jardiance if you are allergic to any of its ingredients or you have taken it before and had a hypersensitivity reaction to the drug.

• The American Diabetes Association has advised patients with increased risk for bone fractures to avoid drugs of this type.¹¹

People with the following conditions should take Jardiance with caution:¹² ¹³ ¹⁴

• Congestive heart failure

• Pancreatic insulin deficiency, pancreatic disease, pancreatitis

• Alcohol use disorder

• High blood lipids

• Low blood pressure

• Dehydration

• Mild kidney dysfunction

• Frequent urinary tract infections

• Genital mycotic infections

Potential side effects of Jardiance

Jardiance can cause serious adverse effects, so it’s important to know what to look for.

The drug causes changes in your blood sugar, so you may be at risk for

• Excessively low blood sugar levels, particularly when used with other diabetes medications

• High glucose levels associated with ketoacidosis.

Talk to your doctor about the symptoms of both conditions and how you should respond to each.

Common side effects

Common side effects of Jardiance include any of the following:¹⁵

• Frequent urination

• Increased thirst

• Urinary tract infection

• Abnormal blood lipids (LDL-C)

• Joint pain

• Nausea

Tell your doctor if these symptoms persist or worsen.

Serious side effects

Contact your doctor right away if you experience any of these serious side effects:¹⁶

• Pelvic pain

• Back pain

• Cloudy, pink, red, or brown urine

• Genital rash, discharge, or swelling

• Fatigue, weakness

• Flu-like symptoms

• Low blood pressure

• Fainting

• Fever

• Genital fungal infections

  • Males: balanitis, penile infection, scrotal abscess

  • Female: vulvitis, candidal yeast infection

• Rare: perineal necrotizing fasciitis (bacterial infection of the perineum)

Jardiance can also cause ketoacidosis, which is a medical emergency. If you experience any of the following symptoms, test your urine for ketones if possible, and call your doctor or 911 or go to the emergency department immediately.¹⁷

Symptoms of ketoacidosis include the following:

• Nausea and vomiting

• Abdominal pain

• Fatigue

• Rapid heart rate

• Rapid breathing

Overdose

Patients who have overdosed on this medicine reported fainting, dehydration, and low blood pressure.¹⁸

Uncontrolled changes in your blood sugar can easily become a medical emergency. If you take too much Jardiance, contact your doctor, call 911, or go to the emergency department right away.

Allergy information

Jardiance can cause serious allergic reactions. Symptoms may include any of the following:¹⁹

• Itching, rash, hives

• Swelling of the mouth, tongue, or throat

• Wheezing or difficulty breathing

• Trouble swallowing

• Hoarse voice

• Vomiting

• Rapid heart rate

• Loss of consciousness

If you experience symptoms of an allergic reaction, contact your doctor or go to the emergency department, depending on their severity. 

Long-term use of Jardiance

Since type 2 diabetes is a chronic condition, you’ll probably need to take Jardiance for a long time.

Researchers have found that this is a safe and effective way to control blood sugar.²⁰

Jardiance is also taken to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events in people with heart failure and diabetes. This will also require long-term use to receive the full benefits of the drug for these conditions.²¹

Pregnancy category

Jardiance has been designated as a pregnancy category C drug by the FDA, meaning that animal studies have demonstrated risks associated with taking the drug during pregnancy.

Abnormalities in kidney development during the second and third trimesters were noted in studies with animals. However, they were given much higher doses than those administered to human patients.

To date, there have not been sufficient human trials to evaluate the drug’s safety in pregnancy.

Jardiance and pregnancy

Based on animal studies, researchers recommend against taking Jardiance during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy.²²

However, untreated diabetes also poses risks to both the fetus and the mother.

Talk to your doctor about the risks and benefits of taking the drug during early pregnancy, and review alternative therapeutic options to ensure safety for you and your baby.

Jardiance and breastfeeding

Researchers recommend that women do not take Jardiance while breastfeeding.²³

While they haven’t been able to establish whether or not the drug passes into breast milk, the risk of harming the child is too high. This is because the first two years of life are a key period for kidney development, and Jardiance has been associated with kidney injury in some patients.

Missed doses

If you miss a dose of Jardiance, take it as soon as you remember unless it’s time for your next scheduled dose. Do not take extra Jardiance to make up for the missed dose.²⁴

Drug interactions

Taking Jardiance with certain other medications can increase your risk of experiencing serious side effects. The drugs known to interact with Jardiance include the following:

• Diuretics, such as furosemide (Lasix), hydrochlorothiazide, indapamide, and metolazone

• Insulin and drugs used to increase insulin production, such as glimepiride (Amaryl), glipizide (Glucotrol XL), glyburide, repaglinide, and others

• Other SGLT2 inhibitors like bexagliflozin (Brenzavvy) and sotagliflozin (Inpefa)

• Aspirin or other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)

• Hypertension (high blood pressure) medications:

  • Renin inhibitors like aliskiren (Tekturna)

  • Calcium channel blockers, such as atenolol (Tenormin), betaxolol, carvedilol (Coreg CR), and others

  • ACE inhibitors like benazepril (Lotensin), captopril, enalaprilat

  • Angiotensin receptor blockers, such as irbesartan (Avapro)

  • Other: eplerenone (Inspra), hydralazine

• Cardiac nitrites, such as nitroglycerin, nitric oxide, nitroprusside, and fenoldopam (Corlopam)

• Antibiotics, such as ciprofloxacin (Cipro), isoniazid, and ofloxacin

• Antidepressants:

  • Serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) like duloxetine (Cymbalta), venlafaxine ER (Effexor XR), desvenlafaxine (Pristiq), and others

  • Tricyclics such as imipramine (Tofranil)

• Antipsychotic drugs like asenapine (Saphris), brexpiprazole, and cariprazine (Vraylar)

• Antiplatelet medications like cilostazol and dipyridamole (Persantine)

• Antiviral drugs, such as amantadine, atazanavir (Reyataz), darunavir (Prezista), lopinavir/ritonavir (Kaletra), and others 

• Decongestants like phenylephrine (Sudafed) and pseudoephedrine

• Drugs for benign prostatic hyperplasia, such as alfuzosin (Uroxatral), doxazosin, and prazosin

• Drugs for Parkinson’s disease, like entacapone (Comtan), methyldopa, rasagiline (Azilect), and selegiline (Zelapar)

• Hormones:

  • Contraceptives: estradiol, estetrol, etonogestrel, norethindrone, norgestrel

  • Hormone replacement: estradiol, ethinyl estradiol, estropipate

  • Thyroid: levothyroxine (Levoxyl, Synthroid, and others)

• Pain medications like morphine (MS-Contin, and others), oxycodone (Oxycontin), oxymorphone

• Steroids, such as budesonide (Entocort EC, Tarpeyo), betamethasone, cortisone, dexamethasone (Hemady, TaperDex), prednisone (Rayos), and others

• Lithium (Lithobid)

• Lofexidine (Lucemyra)

• Minoxidil

• Alcohol, opium, nitric oxide

• Garlic, flaxseed, ginkgo, ephedra

This is not a complete list of drug interactions for Jardiance, so reviewing all your medications and supplements with your prescriber is essential.

Can I drink alcohol while taking Jardiance?

Alcohol can cause rapid changes in your blood sugar. It can also cause dehydration and heighten the effects of Jardiance on blood pressure, causing severe hypotension (low blood pressure).²⁵

Talk to your doctor about how much and how frequently you drink alcohol to determine if it’s safe to continue while taking Jardiance.

What to discuss with your doctor before starting Jardiance

Make sure you discuss all the medications and supplements you’re taking with your doctor before starting Jardiance. Mention any history of allergic reactions to medications, your health conditions, and a history of any of the following:

• Urinary tract infections

• Yeast infections

• Heart disease

• Pancreatic disease

• Kidney disease

• Liver disease

• High cholesterol

• Low blood pressure

• Heavy alcohol use

Talk to your doctor if you are pregnant or planning to become pregnant, as taking Jardiance is not recommended while pregnant or breastfeeding.

Stress, injury, fever, and other illnesses can all impact your blood sugar and hydration status, which will affect your treatment with Jardiance. Talk to your doctor about how you’ll handle any of these things if they occur.

Stopping Jardiance

When you stop taking Jardiance, there is no withdrawal effect, but your blood sugar may increase. Do not stop taking it or change your dosage without first talking to your doctor.

Drug approval history

2014: Jardiance was approved by the FDA for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.²⁶

2016: The FDA approved a new indication for Jardiance — to reduce the risk of cardiovascular death in adults with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.²⁷

2021: Jardiance was approved for treating patients with a specific type of heart disease called heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. These patients may or may not also have diabetes. Treating these patients with Jardiance was shown to reduce their risk of hospitalization for heart failure and cardiovascular death.²⁸

2022: The drug’s FDA approval was expanded to cover treatment for other types of heart failure to reduce the risk of hospitalization and death due to cardiovascular disease.²⁹

Tips for taking Jardiance

• Take Jardiance in the morning, with or without food. Try to take it around the same time each day.

• You should have your blood sugar tested regularly while taking Jardiance. Make sure to attend all lab appointments your doctor recommends for monitoring your condition.

• Glucose will often be present in your urine while taking Jardiance because of the way the medication works. This may show up on a urine test.

• Drink plenty of fluids throughout the day to prevent dehydration.

• Follow your doctor’s instructions for managing your diabetes by testing your blood sugar on your own when recommended.

• Illness, stress, and injury can affect your blood sugar. If you experience any of these, contact your doctor to discuss how they might affect your diabetes treatment.

Jardiance can cause low blood sugar, especially if taken with other diabetes medications. Low blood sugar symptoms include headache, drowsiness, irritability, sweating, and rapid heartbeat. Contact your doctor right away if you experience these symptoms.

Frequently asked questions

Is Jardiance the same as metformin?

No. While both drugs are designed to control type 2 diabetes by lowering blood sugar, they work differently.

Metformin reduces the amount of sugar you absorb from food and helps your body respond to insulin more effectively. Jardiance helps your kidneys filter out more glucose so it can be removed from your body.³⁰

What does Jardiance do?

Jardiance controls blood sugar in type 2 diabetes by prompting the kidneys to filter out more glucose than they would otherwise. It is also prescribed for patients with heart failure to reduce their risk of hospitalization for their heart condition and death from cardiovascular causes.

Does Jardiance cause frequent urination?

Jardiance can cause frequent urination because it increases the amount of glucose in the urine, and water follows. It also has a diuretic action, increasing the amount of water removed by the kidneys.

Does Jardiance affect your weight?

While Jardiance is not intended to be a weight-loss drug, many patients lose some weight while taking it.