Investigating the Impact of the SGLT2 Inhibitor Empagliflozin on Postprandial Hypoglycaemia After Gastric Bypass

Bariatric surgery is an effective anti-obesity treatment providing durable weight loss and profound beneficial effects on glucose metabolism. However, bariatric surgery also comes with an increased risk for a late metabolic complication known as postbariatric hypoglycaemia (PBH). The condition presents with hypoglycaemic episodes 1-3 hours after meals and develops one to several years after bariatric surgery, mainly gastric bypass. PBH affects approximately 30% of patients without preexisting diabetes. For a subset of patients, hypoglycaemia-associated impairment of daily living and social functioning are commonly observed. The underlying mechanisms of PBH are multifactorial. It is considered that inadequately high insulin secretion caused by both accelerated glucose absorption from the gut and increased insulinotropic hormones such as GLP-1 are important pathophysiologic mechanisms. Empagliflozin, a sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor reduces glucose exposure by increasing urinary glucose excretion. In a pilot study, a single dose of 10mg of empagliflozin taken before a mixed meal reduced the risk of PBH by 74%. Both, postprandial glucose and insulin exposure were significantly lower with empagliflozin vs. placebo, which makes Empagliflozin a potential treatment for PBH. In this study, treatment naïve patients will be randomized to receive either oral empagliflozin 25 mg daily in the morning for 20 days, followed by 2-6 weeks wash out and 20 days placebo once daily in the morning, or the reverse sequence. Urine and blood analysis will be performed as detailed in the protocol.