A Virginia man has filed a Farxiga ketoacidosis lawsuit against the drug makers, Bristol-Myers Squibb and AztraZeneca, claiming that he suffered from adverse side effects after taking the diabetes drug.

According to his Farxiga ketoacidosis lawsuit, plaintiff Jerry R. began taking Farxiga in June 2015. Farxiga is a drug that is use to treat type-2 diabetes. Type-2 diabetes is a disease that affects millions of Americans and often requires medication.

Farxiga, specifically, is a sodium glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor, or SGLT2 inhibitor. It is generically known as dapagliflozin and was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, FDA, in 2014 as a type-2 diabetes drug.

Farxiga works by controlling blood sugar in type-2 diabetes patients. It prevents the kidneys from reabsorbing sugar and allowing it to release into the blood. Instead, it causes the body to excrete the excess sugar from the body through the urine.

But this can take a toll on the kidneys. In May 2015, one month before Jerry began taking Farxiga for his type-2 diabetes, the FDA warned that SGLT2 inhibitors, including Farxiga, could lead to a condition known as ketoacidosis.

In June 2016, the FDA urged drug makers to revise the warnings on the packages of Farxiga. The FDA said, “Based on recent reports, we have revised the warnings in the drug labels to include information about acute kidney injury and added recommendations to minimize this risk.”

Additionally, the FDA received over 100 reports of confirmable acute kidney injuries in SGLT2 users in a two-year span.

Ketoacidosis is a serious illness in which the body produces high levels of blood acids, or ketones. This usually occurs when the body cannot produce enough insulin and so the body begins to break down fat for fuel. When this happens, a buildup of ketones in the blood occurs.

Signs of ketoacidosis include excessive thirst, frequent urination, vomiting and nausea, pain in the abdomen, fatigue and weakness, shortness of breath and confusion.

According to his Farxiga ketoacidosis lawsuit, soon after Jerry began taking Farxiga, he experienced acute kidney failure and ketoacidosis. His symptoms included severe abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting.

On June 17, 2015, Jerry was diagnosed with ketoacidosis and was admitted to the hospital for treatment. He believes, according to this Farxiga ketoacidosis lawsuit, that the makers of Farxiga knew or should have known about the risks of ketoacidosis.

He also claims that Bristol-Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca should have warned both himself and the medical community of the risk so that his doctors could advise him.

In this Farxiga ketoacidosis lawsuit, the plaintiff alleges that the “Defendants knew that the likelihood of renal adverse effects such as acute renal failure was nearly tripled in patients with near normal kidney function taking a drug in the same class with a nearly identical mechanism of action and more than doubled in patients with even moderately impaired kidney function.”

This Farxiga Ketoacidosis Lawsuit is Case No. 1:17-cv-04528-LGS in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.