Janumet
Sitagliptin and metformin hydrochlorideDrag to rotate. Scroll or pinch to zoom.
Combines two diabetes medicines in one tablet: sitagliptin, which helps the body release more of its own insulin after meals, and metformin, which tells the liver to release less sugar into the blood and helps the body use insulin more effectively.
How it works
Janumet puts two diabetes medicines into one tablet, and they work in different ways. Sitagliptin helps your body hang onto its own after-meal, insulin-boosting hormones for longer, so your pancreas makes more insulin exactly when you need it. Metformin works on the liver and gut instead — it tells the liver to release less sugar into your blood and helps your muscles use insulin more effectively. Because the two act on different parts of the body, combining them controls blood sugar better than either alone.
What it’s used for
Janumet is prescribed, alongside diet and exercise, to help adults with type 2 diabetes manage their blood sugar using two medicines in one pill instead of two separate prescriptions. It isn't used for type 1 diabetes. Because it contains metformin, it carries a boxed warning — the FDA's strongest safety warning — about a rare but serious condition called lactic acidosis.
- Mechanism
- DPP-4 inhibitor + biguanide (fixed-dose combination)
- Drug class
- Fixed-dose combination
- Therapeutic area
- Metabolic / Diabetes