The drug canagliflozin shows promise for managing insulin dysregulation (ID) in horses, based on preliminary results from an ongoing study. In the study, privately owned horses that had previously been diagnosed with ID were treated with canagliflozin daily for two years.

Elin Svonni, DVM, PhD student with the Department of Clinical Sciences at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, presented this preliminary report at the 2025 Global Equine Endocrinology Symposium (GEES). Her research colleagues are Sanna Lindåse and Johan Bröjer of the same institution. The presentation was titled, “Long term treatment with canagliflozin in insulin dysregulated horses—preliminary results from an ongoing study evaluating efficacy and side effects in horses treated for 2 years.”

Canagliflozin Research Aims

Velagliflozin and canagliflozin are sodium-glucose co-transport 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors that have been researched in horses. These SGLT2 drugs reduce renal glucose reabsorption, promote glucosuria (the presence of glucose in the urine), and consequently decrease blood glucose and insulin concentrations.

Research has shown that short-term treatment with SGLT2 inhibitors decreases the postprandial (after a meal) insulin response in insulin-dysregulated (ID) horses. This study aimed to investigate the effects on postprandial insulin responses, serum triglyceride (TG), and glutamate dehydrogenase (GLDH) concentrations in ID horses treated with canagliflozin for up to two years.

Canagliflozin Research Results

Svonni reported that the postprandial insulin responses decreased with canagliflozin treatment. Those insulin responses remained low for two years.

She said for the oral sugar test, “the average insulin responses were 29.3% and 37.6% of the baseline response at one and two years, respectively. The corresponding data for the meal tolerance test was 28.2% and 33.7%.

“There was no difference in glutamate dehydrogenase (GLDH) concentrations at any time point compared to baseline,” she added. “Some individuals developed elevated serum triglyceride concentrations during canagliflozin treatment but showed no clinical signs of hyperlipemia.”

Research Conclusion

The preliminary results from this ongoing study indicate that horses treated with canagliflozin “have sustained decrease in postprandial insulin responses over two years without severe side effects related to hypertriglyceridemia (abnormally high levels of triglycerides in the blood). Thus, canagliflozin is a promising drug for long-term treatment of ID horses.”

(Author’s note: The study was funded by the Swedish-Norwegian Foundation for Equine Research.)

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  • Kimberly S. Brown and Jewell

    Kimberly S. Brown is an award-winning writer and publisher. She is the Editorial Director for My Senior Horse. Brown spent 10 years at Equine Network, parent company of My Senior Horse. Prior to that she worked for three years in equine nutrition after she retired from nearly 30 years working at The Blood-Horse. Brown spent the last 15 years of her time at that organization creating and developing The Horse and TheHorse.com.

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