How Long Does Jardiance Stay In Your System?

Jardiance is a brand name for the drug empagliflozin. It is primarily used in the management of type 2 diabetes Mellitus in addition to diet and exercise.

In this article, the pharmacist will tell you how long Jardiance stays in your system before it is completely eliminated. And also the factors that can affect this time length.

How To Determine How Long Jardiance Stays In Your System

One important parameter that pharmacists and drug manufacturers use to determine how long any drug will stay in the body before it is completely eliminated is the elimination or terminal half-life. 

The half-life of a drug refers to how long it takes for half of the administered dose of the drug to be removed from the blood. It is a very important consideration during drug manufacturing because it is what determines how often you will have to take the drug.

The terminal half-life of Jardiance (empagliflozin) is 12.4 hours. This means that if you take 10 mg of Jardiance, after about 13 hours, you will have only 5 mg of the drug left in your system. 

After 24.4 hours, you will have only 5 mg left. And by 86. 8 hours later, you will only have 0.1 mg of Jardiance left in your body. At this point, the drug is considered significantly eliminated from the body, as it cannot produce any reasonable physiological effect at that concentration.

How Long Does Jardiance Stay In Your System?

Jardiance stays in your system for about 62 to 86 hours (approximately 3 to 4 days) before it is completely eliminated from the body. This is because it has a long half-life of 12.4 hours.

In pharmacokinetics, which is a branch of pharmacology that deals with how drugs are absorbed, distributed, metabolized, and ultimately eliminated. 

It is believed that it takes at least 5 half-lives for a drug to be removed such that whatever is left of it is considered clinically insignificant. After these 5 half-lives, the remaining amount of the drug is estimated to be 3%, as the remaining 97% must have been eliminated.

From this rule, 5 half-lives of Jardiance will be 62 hours. So you are taking the standard of dose of Jardiance which is 10 mg daily. After 5 half-lives, you will only have 0.3 mg (3.125%) of the drug left in your system. 

This amount of Jardiance you have left is way too small to cause any physiological or therapeutic effect. As such, it is considered clinically insignificant.

When 7 half-lives (86.8 hrs) have passed, you will be left with just 0.1 mg (0%). At this point, it is safe to say that the drug has completely left your system because, at that concentration, it can’t do anything in the body.

So What Does This Mean To You?

One key takeaway here should be the fact that you need to take your doses of Jardiance as recommended and at the right time. 

Failure to do so can allow the concentration in the blood to fall too low, thereby requiring more time and doses to bump it up to a level that is required to lower your blood sugar level or produce any other effect it was prescribed for.

On the other hand, taking the next dose too close can allow the drug to accumulate in the body. Thereby spiking its concentration in the blood. This can cause your blood glucose level to fall below the normal range, resulting in hypoglycemia (low blood sugar).

Because of the long half-life of empagliflozin, Jardiance is dosed once a day. Hence, to prevent any treatment failure. It is recommended that you take your drug once daily and if possible, at the same time each day. If your doctor or pharmacist gave you a different directive, you should follow it. 

Factors That Can Affect How Long Jardiance Stays In Your System.

Factors like age, gastric emptying time, and liver and kidney functions can also contribute to how long Jardiance will remain in your body before complete elimination. However, the primary deciding factor remains the half-life of the drug.

As an individual advances in age, physiological changes occur. The liver doesn’t produce enzymes nor metabolize drugs as fast or efficiently as it used to. Multiple health conditions often tend to set in in the elderly.

All these can affect how efficiently a drug will be absorbed, distributed, metabolized, and excreted from the body. To make up for these changes, clinicians often adjust doses of certain drugs in older people.

The gastric emptying time refers to how long it takes for the stomach contents to be evacuated to the duodenum or small intestine. If it takes longer, it can interfere with drug absorption which will in turn slow down other adjoining steps. 

If it occurs fast, the drug may not be completely dissolved before being moved to the small intestines where absorption tends to occur for most drugs. This can lead to low blood concentration of the drug.

The liver and kidneys are the primary organs responsible for drug metabolism and elimination respectively. If any of them develops a fault, such as liver or kidney failure.

It can seriously affect how long the drug stays in the system. In cases like this, the dose is often adjusted to prevent accumulation and toxicity.

Final Thoughts

Jardiance stays in the system for about 62 to 86 hours which is approximately 3 to 4 days before it is eliminated from the body. To prevent treatment failure, it is important that you do not miss doses or take them too soon. 

References

• Ndefo UA, Anidiobi NO, Basheer E, Eaton AT. Empagliflozin (Jardiance): A Novel SGLT2 Inhibitor for the Treatment of Type-2 Diabetes. P T. 2015 Jun;40(6):364-8. PMID: 26045645; PMCID: PMC4450666.
• Scheen AJ. Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic profile of empagliflozin, a sodium glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitor. Clin Pharmacokinet. 2014 Mar;53(3):213-225. doi: 10.1007/s40262-013-0126-x. PMID: 24430725; PMCID: PMC3927118.
• Padda IS, Mahtani AU, Parmar M. Sodium-Glucose Transport Protein 2 (SGLT2) Inhibitors. [Updated 2023 Jun 3]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2023 Jan-.