REN and diabetes mellitus: In this study, LCZ696 was tested against DKD in the HFD/STZ rat model, a well-known model that mimics human type 2 diabetes mellitus, and its effects were compared with those obtained with valsartan as a comparison to examine if LCZ696 conferred any additional benefit over renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system (RAAS) blockade alone.