The plaintiff in a new Invokana adverse effects lawsuit says a better warning label could have spared him an episode of ketoacidosis.

Plaintiff Syed A. of Texas says he started taking Invokana in November 2013.

Sometime after then, he allegedly developed ketoacidosis, according to the Invokana adverse effects lawsuit.

Syed now believes his ketoacidosis was caused by Invokana.

He says he could have avoided his ketoacidosis if defendants Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson and Mistubishi Tanabe had issued an adequate warning about the risk of ketoacidosis associated with Invokana.

He says he relied on defendants’ representations that said Invokana was a safe and effective treatment for type-2 diabetes.

Had the defendants properly disclosed the associated risk, Syed says he never would have used Invokana and would never have developed ketoacidosis.

Janssen, J&J Implicated in Invokana Adverse Effects Lawsuit

Invokana is one of the newer drugs for treating diabetes. It was approved by the FDA in March of 2013. It’s now used to help control the high levels of blood sugar that come with type-2 diabetes.

Invokana and other drugs like it are known as SGLT2 inhibitors. These drugs keep blood sugar under control by preventing the kidneys from reabsorbing glucose into the bloodstream. The excess glucose then gets expelled in urine.

The problem with Invokana, according to Syed’s Invokana adverse effects lawsuit, is that it has been linked to cases of ketoacidosis, an acute condition in which the blood’s acidity suddenly rises to dangerous levels.

Without immediate medical treatment, ketoacidosis may lead to coma or death.

Many diabetes patients aren’t strangers to ketoacidosis, as it sometimes occurs as a complication of that condition.

However, most cases of diabetic ketoacidosis occur in patients with type-1 diabetes, not type-2.

Ketoacidosis in patients who take Invokana tends to be different, because Invokana is generally used to treat type-2 diabetes.

Another complication is the fact that Invokana-related ketoacidosis doesn’t occur in tandem with the high blood sugar levels found in type-1 diabetes patients.

Doctors expecting to find elevated blood sugar levels may initially misdiagnose ketoacidosis, and that can lead to a delay in proper treatment.

In his Invokana adverse effects lawsuit, Syed says an analysis of the FDA’s adverse event reporting database shows that patients who take Invokana are much more likely to report suffering ketoacidosis than patients who take other, non-SGLT2 inhibitor drugs.

Yet despite the publicity about the link between Invokana and ketoacidosis, Syed says defendant Janssen Pharmaceuticals neglected to put out a proper warning that would put doctors and patients on notice about that risk.

“To the contrary,” Syed says, “Defendants conducted nationwide sales and marketing campaigns to promote the sale of INVOKANA and willfully deceived Plaintiff, Plaintiff’s health care professionals, the medical community, and the general public as to the health risks and consequences of the use of the INVOKANA.”

Syed is raising claims for manufacturing defect, defective design, failure to warn, breach of warranty, negligence, fraudulent and negligent misrepresentation, fraudulent concealment, and fraud.

The Invokana Adverse Effects Lawsuit  is Case No. 3:16-cv-08936 in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.