Boehringer's new risk-prediction model will tap patients who could be good Jardiance candidates

Boehringer Ingelheim has reason to believe its diabetes medication Jardiance can help fend off cardiovascular death, kidney failure and hospitalization for heart failure. And now, it’s developing a model to help predict which patients are best suited for treatment with the therapy.

The German drugmaker, which partners with Eli Lilly on the SGLT2 drug, has trotted out a collaboration with health services organization Geisinger centered on developing a risk-prediction model for the three outcomes, which commonly affect Type 2 diabetes patients. The model will use electronic health record data—including demographics, vital signs, medical history and current medications—to determine which patients face the highest risk.

And the companies’ ultimate goal? “A successful model should allow for the development of more precise treatment pathways for people with Type 2 diabetes; pathways that align with quality guidelines aiming to improve patient outcomes, quality and total cost of care,” BI said in a statement.

Right now, such a pathway would point to treatment with Jardiance, which is one of just two diabetes drugs that’s indicated for cutting down patients’ CV death risk. The medication won the new nod last December, and since then it’s been joined by Novo Nordisk’s Victoza.

RELATED: Lilly and BI, following their SGLT2 rivals, plot kidney disease study for Jardiance

BI and Lilly are hoping to add other indications to Jardiance’s label, though, and the partners are currently kidney and heart failure trials. Green lights in those departments could further boost Jardiance against competitors Invokana from Johnson & Johnson and Farxiga from AstraZeneca, both of which beat it to market.

Meanwhile, Boehringer has been playing up its CV edge through other marketing efforts, including this year’s “For Your Sweetheart” campaign featuring Angela Bassett. The actress and director spoke to media outlets and posted on social media to highlight the relationship between diabetes and heart disease, which claimed her mother’s life in 2014.