In the more than ten years that Onglyza has been available, a growing amount of research has raised the question of whether side effects of Onglyza cause cancer.

Onglyza, or saxagliptin, is used to help control the high levels of blood sugar associated with type-2 diabetes. It is manufactured by pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, and was initially approved by the FDA in 2009.

Another medication known by the brand name Kombiglyze XR combines saxagliptin with metformin, an older diabetes drug with a different mechanism of action.

Onglyza is one of a class of newer diabetes drugs known as DPP-4 inhibitors. These drugs work by altering the interactions between certain enzymes and hormones that affect the amount of insulin in the bloodstream.

By inhibiting the action of the DPP-4 enzyme, Onglyza allows more incretin hormones to remain active in the body. These hormones make the pancreas produce more insulin, which in turn stimulates tissue in the rest of the body to absorb more sugar out of the blood.

Onglyza has seen widespread use in the decade and change it has spent on the market. Its popularity may be due in part to the way it keeps blood sugar under control without encouraging weight gain like some other diabetes medications.

Annual Onglyza sales have reached high into the hundreds of millions, and they could reach into the billions within a couple years.

But even though Onglyza is popular, the risks of longer-term side effects of Onglyza are now emerging, and may be some cause for concern.

Clinical studies, post-marketing reports and analysis of medical records continue to draw scientists’ attention to new possible side effects of Onglyza.

Could Side Effects of Onglyza Cause Cancer?

Results from a 2013 study raised the question: can using Onglyza cause cancer?

Researchers did a postmortem analysis of pancreatic tissue taken from patients who had treated diabetes using incretin-based drugs like Onglyza. They found evidence of possible pre-cancerous changes in some pancreatic cells.

One type of pancreatic cell known as beta cells tended to be abnormal in patients who took incretin drugs like Onglyza, the researchers found. They also found evidence of adenomas – small new growths that have the potential to develop into pancreatic cancer.

The researchers noted that patients who took non-incretin-based drugs did not end up with the same pancreatic tissue changes.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadlier types of cancer. It’s often not discovered until late in its development, at which point it may have had ample time to progress and possibly metastasize.

While this study didn’t establish a causal link between Onglyza and pancreatic cancer, it’s possible that other side effects of Onglyza cause cancer. Onglyza has a known link to pancreatitis, an inflammation of the pancreas. Pancreatitis can sometimes be a precursor to pancreatic cancer.

The FDA addressed the link between Onglyza and pancreatitis in a 2011 communication. The new label says that there have been several aftermarket reports of patients who developed acute pancreatitis after taking Onglyza.

In April 2016, the FDA released a further communication about Onglyza risks, noting that medications like Onglyza that contain saxagliptin and alogliptin may increase the risk of heart failure, especially in patients who already have heart or kidney disease. The FDA has added warnings about these risks to the drugs’ labels.