Empagliflozin is used along with diet and exercise, and sometimes with other medications, to lower blood sugar levels in adults and children 10 years of age and older with type 2 diabetes (condition in which blood sugar is too high because the body does not produce or use insulin normally). Empagliflozin is also used to reduce the risk of stroke, heart attack, or death in people who have type 2 diabetes along with heart and blood vessel disease. Empagliflozin is also used in adults with heart failure to reduce the risk of needing to be hospitalized and death due to heart and blood vessel disease. It is also used to reduce the risk of worsening kidney disease, the need to be hospitalized, and the risk of death due to heart disease in adults with kidney disease. Empagliflozin is in a class of medications called sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors. It lowers blood sugar by causing the kidneys to get rid of more glucose in the urine. Empagliflozin is not used to treat type 1 diabetes (condition in which the body does not produce insulin and, therefore, cannot control the amount of sugar in the blood) or diabetic ketoacidosis