An oral daily medication used to lower blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes.
INVOKANA (canagliflozin) is indicated: • as an adjunct to diet and exercise to improve glycemic control in adults and pediatric patients aged 10 years and older with type 2 diabetes mellitus. • to reduce the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (cardiovascular death, nonfatal myocardial infarction and nonfatal stroke) in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus and established cardiovascular disease (CVD). • to reduce the risk of end-stage kidney disease (ESKD), doubling of serum creatinine, cardiovascular (CV) death, and hospitalization for heart failure in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus and diabetic nephropathy with albuminuria greater than 300 mg/day. INVOKANA is a sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor indicated: • As an adjunct to diet and exercise to improve glycemic control in adults and pediatric patients aged 10 years and older with type 2 diabetes mellitus …
12.1 Mechanism of Action SGLT2, expressed in the proximal renal tubules, is responsible for the majority of the reabsorption of filtered glucose from the tubular lumen. Canagliflozin is an inhibitor of SGLT2. By inhibiting SGLT2, canagliflozin reduces reabsorption of filtered glucose and lowers the renal threshold for glucose (RT G ), and thereby increases urinary glucose excretion (UGE). Canagliflozin increases the delivery of sodium to the distal tubule by blocking SGLT2-dependent glucose and sodium reabsorption. This is believed to increase tubuloglomerular feedback and reduce intraglomerular pressure.
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Plain-English summaries and drug-class explainers are written and reviewed by the Priya Life Science editorial team, led by Sreepriya Prasannan (MSc Digital Transformation of Life Sciences (Innopharma Education / Griffith College); MSc & BSc Botany). Data is retrieved automatically from the sources above and cross-checked with AI-assisted verification (Anthropic's Claude) — brand and generic names are matched against the exact FDA product record so that a combination product or a different formulation cannot be mistaken for the drug on this page. An editor reviews the result before publication. We describe this in full in our editorial standards and corrections policy. The FDA data on this page was last retrieved on 6 Aug 2026.