The oral drug, sotagliflozin, is the company’s first to be approved by the US health agency and will be sold under the brand name Inpefa. It had previously failed to win US approval as an add-on to insulin therapy for type 1 diabetes

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Lexicon Pharmaceuticals Inc drug for a broad treatment of heart failure, including in adult patients with type 2 diabetes, the company said on Friday, Shares of the company rose 13 per cent in extended trading. The oral drug, sotagliflozin, is the company’s first to be approved by the US health agency and will be sold under the brand name Inpefa. It had previously failed to win US approval as an add-on to insulin therapy for type 1 diabetes. Sotagliflozin belongs to a class of medicine that helps regulate blood glucose levels and reduce the risk of weight gain by inhibiting SGLT1 and SGLT2 proteins. Jardiance, a drug developed by Eli Lilly and Boehringer Ingelheim that belongs to the same class, has already been approved by the US regulator for the same indication.