What is this plain language summary about?The T2NOW study was a clinical trial which tested the use of two different blood sugar-reducing drugs (dapagliflozin or saxagliptin) in young people aged between 10 and 17 years with type 2 diabetes. Each drug was compared with a placebo to see to what extent the treatment can control blood sugar levels, and to observe any side effects.Type 2 diabetes is a chronic condition affecting how the body processes sugar, resulting in high levels of sugar in the blood. Over time, high blood sugar levels can cause damage to certain parts of the body such as the cardiovascular system, the kidneys, nerves, and eyes, often resulting in serious health problems. Once considered a disease of middle-age or older-age, it is becoming more common in younger people, in part because of an increase in childhood obesity. This is concerning, as when diabetes starts at a young age it can progress quickly and lead to these serious health problems earlier in life. Improvements in diet and exercise are important elements for everyone with type 2 diabetes. However, there are currently very few other treatments available for children and adolescents.What are the key takeaways?When compared to a group of participants receiving placebo in the study, participants receiving dapagliflozin had significantly improved blood sugar control but participants receiving saxagliptin did not. Both the dapagliflozin and saxagliptin treatments were generally well tolerated by participants, with similar proportions in each group experiencing side effects. Only one participant in each group stopped treatment because of side effects. Similar proportions of participants in all groups–including the placebo group–had hypoglycemia, suggesting that neither dapagliflozin nor saxagliptin affected the likelihood of experiencing this important side effect.What are the main conclusions reported by the researchers?The T2NOW study showed that dapagliflozin could be an addition to treatment options for young people with type 2 diabetes as it helped to control blood sugar levels and did not raise any safety concerns. In contrast, although there were no safety concerns related to use of saxagliptin, it did not significantly help to control blood sugar levels in this study.[Box: see text]Link to original article