Onglyza, a well-known diabetes drug, is the subject of a multitude of Onglyza lawsuits filed by plaintiffs who believe that Onglyza is the source of their heart problems and other serious complications.

What is Onglyza?

Onglyza is manufactured by Bristol-Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca and was approved for the treatment of type-2 diabetes in 2009. Onglyza, generically known as saxagliptin, works to help control the high blood sugar of type-2 diabetes patients.

This drug is known works by inhibiting an enzyme known as DPP-4. It occurs naturally in the body. DPP-4 breaks down GLP-1, a hormone that is secreted after a person eats that triggers the pancreas to make insulin.

A person with type-2 diabetes does not make enough GLP-1. Without this, the blood often contains too much insulin. If DPP-4 is inhibited, the GLP-1 that the person does make can remain in the body for a longer period of time, thereby making more insulin.

Onglyza Complications

Even though Onglyza seems to work well with those who have type-2 diabetes, it has been linked to a number of serious and life-threatening side effects. The most serious of these possible complications is heart failure. If a patient has a history of kidney disease or previous heart problems, the risk of heart failure rises.

Most plaintiffs who file Onglyza lawsuits alleges that not only did they develop some form of heart disease as a result of Onglyza use, but that the manufacturing companies didn’t do enough to warn patients and doctors of the potential risks of taking Onglzya.

Onglyza Lawsuits

Patients who have experienced heart-related problems as a result of Onlgyza use have frequently filed Onglyza lawsuits. In California, a group of plaintiffs who have filed Onglyza lawsuits are seeking to combine them into a multidistrict litigation, or MDL. An MDL consolidates similar lawsuits and creates a quicker and easier road to resolution.

Law360 reports that the diabetes patients who had filed Onglyza lawsuits and attempted to coordinate discovery have recently asked the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation that the discovery coordination was not working. They asked for their Onlglyza lawsuits to be combined in an MDL in Northern California.

According to Law360, one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys justified the MDL by saying that the Onglyza lawsuits “share the same defendants, the same theory of liability and the same basic allegations and should be consolidated before U.S. District Judge Jon S. Tigar in San Francisco, who has already issued a few orders, including an e-discovery order, in a few cases being coordinated in the Northern District of California.”

An attorney for the defendants disagrees. She believes that creating an MDL will attract Onglyza lawsuits that would not have been filed otherwise and that, essentially, they have been doing fine with individual litigation for the last two years.

If you or someone you love has taken Onglyza for type-2 diabetes, you may benefit from speaking to an experienced attorney to determine if legal action is the right path for you.