[Kidney protection: role of sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors and finerenone]

Abstract

Chronic kidney disease, diabetes mellitus and heart failure represent three chronic conditions closely linked to each other from a pathophysiological and prognostic point of view. This link has led to an ever-increasing emphasis in recent years on the need for a holistic approach to patients who are affected by optimizing the therapeutic management of what has recently been defined as cardio-kidney-metabolic syndrome. The cardiorenal and metabolic approach has gained relevance thanks to recent studies on new drug classes. Initially in diabetic patients and later in those suffering from heart failure and chronic kidney disease, these new drugs have demonstrated their effectiveness in reducing cardiovascular risk, the progression of heart failure and chronic kidney disease. This review aims to address the main pharmacological aspects of two of these new classes, that of sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors and the more recent one of non-steroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists.