Jardiance is not a GLP-1 drug. It belongs to a completely different class of medications called SGLT2 inhibitors. While both drug classes are used to treat type 2 diabetes and offer heart and kidney benefits, they work through different mechanisms, are taken differently, and produce different side effects.
What Jardiance Actually Is
Jardiance (empagliflozin) is a sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor. It works in the kidneys, blocking a protein that normally reabsorbs glucose back into your bloodstream. With that protein blocked, your kidneys flush excess glucose out through urine, which lowers blood sugar.
Jardiance is a once-daily pill. The FDA has approved it for four uses: improving blood sugar control in adults and children 10 and older with type 2 diabetes, reducing cardiovascular death in adults with type 2 diabetes and established heart disease, reducing hospitalizations and cardiovascular death in adults with heart failure, and slowing kidney disease progression in adults with chronic kidney disease at risk of getting worse.
How GLP-1 Drugs Work Differently
GLP-1 receptor agonists take an entirely different approach. Instead of acting on the kidneys, they mimic a gut hormone called GLP-1 that your body naturally produces after eating. This triggers insulin release (only when blood sugar is elevated), suppresses a hormone called glucagon that raises blood sugar, and slows how quickly food leaves your stomach. Critically, GLP-1 drugs also act on appetite centers in the brain, reducing hunger and increasing feelings of fullness.
Common GLP-1 medications include semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy, Rybelsus), tirzepatide (Mounjaro, Zepbound), dulaglutide (Trulicity), liraglutide (Victoza), and exenatide (Byetta, Bydureon BCise). Most are injections given once daily or once weekly. Rybelsus is one exception, taken as a daily oral tablet.
Weight Loss: A Major Difference
One of the biggest reasons people wonder whether Jardiance is a GLP-1 is weight loss. GLP-1 drugs have gained enormous attention for producing significant weight loss, largely because they reduce appetite directly. Jardiance does cause some weight loss, but the amount is modest by comparison.
In clinical trials, Jardiance produced a placebo-adjusted weight loss of about 1.7 to 1.9 kg (roughly 4 pounds) in the short term. Over longer periods, users lost around 4 to 5 kg (9 to 11 pounds). That weight loss comes primarily from excreting extra glucose (and its calories) through urine, not from appetite suppression. GLP-1 drugs, particularly newer formulations of semaglutide and tirzepatide, routinely produce weight loss several times greater than that.
Side Effects Are Quite Different
Because these two drug classes act on different parts of the body, their side effect profiles barely overlap. Jardiance’s most common issues stem from its kidney-based mechanism. Flushing glucose into the urinary tract creates an environment where yeast and bacteria thrive, so yeast infections and urinary tract infections are the most frequently reported problems. Increased urination and thirst are also common, along with occasional dizziness or lightheadedness from the mild diuretic effect.
GLP-1 drugs, on the other hand, are known for gastrointestinal side effects. Nausea is the most common complaint, reported by roughly a third of semaglutide users. Constipation, diarrhea, vomiting, and upset stomach are also frequent, especially during the first weeks of treatment or after dose increases. These side effects tend to improve over time but can be significant enough that some people stop taking the medication.
Heart and Kidney Protection
Both drug classes offer cardiovascular and kidney benefits beyond blood sugar control, but they protect the heart in slightly different ways. A large analysis pooling data from 10 clinical trials (over 85,000 participants total) found that both SGLT2 inhibitors and GLP-1 drugs were equally effective at reducing major cardiac events like heart attack, stroke, and cardiovascular death compared to people not taking them.
The key difference showed up in heart failure. SGLT2 inhibitors like Jardiance reduced hospitalizations for heart failure by 32%, particularly in patients with higher cardiovascular risk. GLP-1 drugs did not show a similar reduction in heart failure hospitalizations. This is a major reason Jardiance now carries an FDA approval specifically for heart failure, regardless of whether a patient has diabetes. Both drug classes demonstrated kidney-protective effects, with neither clearly superior to the other.
Using Both Together
Because Jardiance and GLP-1 drugs work through completely separate mechanisms, some people take both. A large population-based cohort study published in The BMJ found that combining the two drug classes was associated with a 30% lower risk of major cardiovascular events compared to taking a GLP-1 drug alone, and a 29% lower risk compared to taking an SGLT2 inhibitor alone. The combination was also linked to a 57% lower risk of serious kidney events compared to GLP-1 therapy alone.
These results suggest the two classes have complementary effects rather than overlapping ones. Current diabetes treatment guidelines from major medical organizations support using both together in patients who would benefit from the cardiovascular and kidney protection each class offers.