Diabetes medication Invokana is at the center of a lawsuit alleging the drug can lead to ketoacidosis, kidney failure, stroke and heart attack.

Invokana from Johnson & Johnson is used to maintain lower blood sugar levels in adults with type-2 diabetes. It works by making the kidneys remove sugar from the body through the urine rather than have it be reabsorbed into the blood. As a result of this action, patients can develop dehydration, which taxes the kidneys.

Plaintiff Frederick S. says he started taking diabetes medication Invokana in February 2015. By mid-July 2015, Frederick “suffered from diabetic ketoacidosis, acute renal failure, acute kidney failure and urosepsis,” he claims.

The latter is a severe bacterial infection of the blood that can injure the kidneys.

Diabetes Medication Invokana Linked to Health Issue

The FDA approved diabetes medication Invokana in 2014 to help maintain blood sugar levels in type-2 diabetics. It was the first in a new class of medications called SGLT2 inhibitors that eliminate excess glucose (sugar) by sending it through the kidneys and out the urine instead of allowing the glucose back into the bloodstream.

In December 2015, the FDA ordered all manufacturers of SGLT2 inhibitors to include warning labels about the risk of ketoacidosis. At that time, the drugs were also made to add warnings regarding an increased risk of urinary tract infections as well.

In Frederick’s Invokana lawsuit, Johnson & Johnson is accused of “through their marketing materials, misrepresented and exaggerated the effectiveness of Invokana, both as to its ability to lower glucose, and its benefit for non-surrogate measures of health, such as reducing adverse cardiovascular outcomes.”

The diabetes medication Invokana lawsuit contends, “Because Invokana prevents patients from using a significant amount of the body’s primary fuel, glucose, their bodies turn to fat as an alternate source of energy. As the body begins to break down fat, acids called ketones are introduced into the body’s blood stream, creating the potential for acidosis-excessive blood acidity.”

Extra ketones are normally excreted through urination in order to restore a proper blood-acid balance. But “because Invokana places the kidneys under duress by expelling significant amounts of glucose that has not been metabolized through the urinary tract, Invokana users are often unable to obtain blood-acid balance without medical intervention,” the complaint says.

In January 2013, the FDA’s Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee said that in the first 30 days of use, Invokana patients had a 690 percent higher risk of suffering a heart attack or other cardiovascular event over those taking a placebo.

The diabetes medication Invokana complaint alleges that “despite defendants’ knowledge of the increased risk of severe injury among Invokana users, defendants did not warn patients, but instead continued to defend and aggressively promote Invokana, mislead physicians and the public, and minimize unfavorable findings.”

The Diabetes Medication Invokana Lawsuit is Case No. 3:17-cv-04305-BRM-LHG in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.