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The Food and Drug Administration has approved the drug dapagliflozin that helps in improving glycemic control in patients with Type 2 diabetes. The drug is the second of a new class of medications and will be marketed under the name Farxiga.

Dapagliflozin blocks the reabsorption of glucose by the kidney and also increases the excretion of glucose in urine. In some cases, the drug also lowers glucose levels in the blood.

With this approval, the drug Farxiga will join a wide range of diabetes medications that include metformin, pioglitazone, glimepiride, sitagliptin and insulin.

Patients those who suffer with Type 2 diabetes are more prone to developing complications related to cardiovascular diseases, and existing diabetes drugs are not much effective in dropping the levels of circulating blood sugar.

Last year in March, FDA also approved the use of canagliflozin which is the first in this class of medications. Experts are hoping that four more similar drugs in the new category of Type 2 diabetes medications are expected to get approval.

Prior approval, in clinical trials, patients who took dapagliflozin showed improvement in blood sugar control. However it is still not confirmed whether the medication has a long term effect on patients with Type 2 diabetes.

FDA has also ordered Bristol-Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca to perform post-marketing trials in order to check on the increase in bladder cancer. In addition animals will also be studied upon to explore how the drug affected urine flow and tumor growth. Dapagliflozin is also proved safe for use in children and pregnant women.